A rhizome has no beginning or end; it is always in the middle, between things, interbeing, intermezzo. The tree is filiation, but the rhizome is alliance, uniquely alliance. The tree imposes the verb ‘to be,’ but the fabric of the rhizome is the conjunction, ‘and … and … and …’ . This conjunction carries enough force to shake and uproot the verb ‘to be.‘ (Deleuze and Guattari 1987: 25)
In A Thousand Plateaus, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari present the concept of the rhizome as an alternative to the tree model of knowledge configuration. While the tree model is hierarchical, with a central root and branches extending outward, and is based on the idea of vertical descent and filiation, where one element derives from another, the rhizome model is non-hierarchical and non-linear, consisting of a network of connections where any point can connect to any other point, allowing for flexibility and openness, as no central root or fixed structure exists. D&G posit that the rhizome is a productive and creative paradigm that allows for constant growth and change, not based on the idea of identity or self, but on the concept of multiplicity. They deploy this fluid model as an analogy for an adventitious way of thinking, which values chance and randomness over the fixedness of any (binary) system, challenging traditional notions of power and identity and producing novel ways of organization and interpretation (whether good, bad, or otherwise).
Thinking in terms of the rhizome allows for multiple approaches to any thought, activity, or concept and emphasizes the various ways of engaging with and assembling thought and action within the world (Colman 2010: 235). Rhizomatic becoming, in this case, rhizomatic podcasting, involves a process of transformation that produces vertical and horizontal assemblages from the encounters of disparate parts, such as audio narration and sonic ambiances on the vertical plane and audio narration in conjunction with sonic gestures, as in ‘soundscape’ or ‘music’ or ‘dialogue’ segments, on the horizontal plane. To think sound rhizomatically means to enact the and to create amalgamations or affective sonic milieus, disrupt meanings, and reconfigure readings, mainly by listening to a thematic thread more than once.