Masticating ‘quality’ and spitting the bits out

Abstract

This article considers what the repercussions are when the concept of ‘quality’ is examined within the epistemological and ontological theoretical shifts that are afforded by post-humanism. In particular, Braidotti’s configuring of thinking as ‘nomadic activity’ and the need for ‘process ontology’, together with Massumi’s ideas relating to ‘activist philosophy’, create the necessary conceptual space for thinking differently. The article takes as a point of departure ethnographic data that has emerged from the twin locations of Norway and England, which broadly centres on some of the practices, habits and mundanities that are associated with Norwegian and English children (aged between two and four) eating food whilst attending their barnehagene or ‘preschool’ setting. It is within the milieu of eating that the authors take up the challenge of confronting ‘quality’, where they question whether it is possible to put to one side a universal standard so as to consider other potentialities. Inevitably, the authors conclude with more questions than answers.