Rhizomes and Realignments in Comparative and International Education

Abstract This chapter reimagines comparative and international education (CIE) as a dynamic and reflexive field by critically engaging the metaphor and method of the rhizome, drawn from the work of Deleuze and Guattari (1987). It challenges traditional aspirations toward disciplinary closure, cautioning against rigid hierarchical models, often symbolized by the “tree,” that risk narrowing the field’s intellectual and methodological scope. Instead, the chapter advocates for a principled pluralism that values rigorous, context-sensitive scholarship across disciplinary boundaries. Rather than rejecting structure altogether, it suggests a more flexible and relational approach that embraces historical insight, empirical complexity, and the productive tensions within the field. Key contemporary developments, such as decolonial research, transnational policy networks, and responses to global crises, illustrate how CIE scholars are already working beyond disciplinary confines through collaborative, practice-informed, and politically engaged scholarship. The chapter affirms that CIE’s strength lies not in coherence for its own sake but in its capacity to remain open to transformation, rooted in critical inquiry, and driven by a commitment to meaningful impact. The rhizome is not offered as an abstract ideal but as a generative practice for navigating the field’s ongoing becoming.