Review of "Beyond the Makerspace: Making and Relational Rhetorics by Malaka Friedman" Shivers-McNair, A. (2021) Beyond the Makerspace: Making and Relational Rhetorics. University of Michigan Press.

Abstract

Beyond the Makerspace: Making and Relational Rhetorics (2021) provides an engaging study of contributions makerspaces provide (both within and outside the making movement) to meaning making through the lens of rhetoric and storytelling. Shivers-McNair situates herself as both a storyteller and an amateur maker in the makerspace she studies and considers applications from these stories for instruction and making knowledge. Situating rhetoric within makerspaces allows Shivers-McNair to create a broad understanding of the relational rhetorics that are "both more than symbolic and more than human" (p. 11). Questioning and evaluating the boundaries between individuals within these spaces allows Shivers-McNair to evaluate conceptualizing meaning making beyond the making movement, an important trend towards reconceptualizing making as an embodied and relational practice that extends to different contexts in society (Gollihue, 2019). Through six chapters, Shivers-McNair provides a concise look into how meaning can be embodied by the individuals of the SoDo Makerspace and how considerations towards making as a relational rhetorical act can extend beyond the scope of one specific makerspace. Readers are invited to consider making as a boundary-marking practice that can speak to the larger nature of how we understand meaning beyond words.