Bricolage as Method: Performing a Betweener Talk Through the Desired Becomings of Two (Im)migrant Bodies

This article presents an intertwined performance of being, feeling, and knowing, and critically examines two bodies’ identity formations, subjectivities, and desired becomings within the context of migration. Through the praxis of betweener talk, we shed light on the lived experiences of two cross-border teachers in their adopted countries (China and Australia) and how they have responded to their particular situatedness. This betweener talk offers a liminal space for keeping alive the very visceral and embodied experiences, writing, and performing ourselves into existence. By honouring innermost speech and envisioning possibilities, this article contributes to an understanding of non-linear becomings and the dynamic, open nodes that are always in process. Through tinkering with a bricolage of reparative and empathetic truths, our personal insights provide noteworthy counter-narratives against essentialist representations of teacher-becoming and their aspirations. This article demonstrates how a bricolage of performative writing leads to a situation where (im)migrant bodies are understood as beings with their own histories and social forces.