A Cyclopedia of Girls and Physical Education

Abstract

This article experiments with form to offer readers a sense of girls’ experiences of physical education in Aotearoa New Zealand. Inspired by Rebecca Solnit’s (2014) Cyclopedia of an Arctic Expedition, and theoretical ideas from new materialisms and postqualitative inquiry, we assemble an alphabetised cyclopedia of participant comments that evoke varied scenes and sensations. Rather than arranging girls’ comments into stable themes that develop a cohesive argument, the cyclopedia functions more as an invitation to an encounter where meaning emerges relationally in the act of reading. Reading is conceptualised as an ‘event’ that is open-ended, where impressions always become anew. The cyclopedia begins with a preface to set the scene, and concludes with an afterword that provides further methodological context for the reader.