Assembling mathematical concepts through trans-individual coordinated movements: The role of affect and sympathy

This paper explores new developments in affect theory for studying the circulation of affect across mathematics classrooms. We use Maxine Sheets-Johnstone’s term “affectivity” to characterize the responsive nature of bodies and the potential scaling-up through sympathy and coordinated movement. We examine cooperative classroom tasks that entail sympathetic coordinated movements, including diverse kinds of often imperceptible body movement (gesture, face, eye, foot, etc.). We discuss how mathematical concepts are assembled through the affective bonds that form when students participate in these tasks. Our methodology is notable for how it bridges three scales: (1) the micro-phenomenological scale of the pre-individual affect, (2) the individual scale of human movement, and (3) the transindividual scale of collective endeavour (the making of a concept).