Beyond the linked text set: text set assemblages and the Linked Text Set Map

Purpose This paper aims to critique the structural limitations of linked text sets, a common tool in secondary English curriculum design, arguing that their reliance on canonical anchor texts limits efforts at diversification. It proposes the linked text set assemblage, a non-hierarchical curricular form that champions emergent connections over a canonical center. To operationalize this reimagining, this paper introduces the Linked Text Set Map, a digital tool for curating text set assemblages. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on poststructuralist philosophy, particularly Deleuze and Guattari’s concepts of the rhizome and the assemblage, this paper outlines the process through which traditional linked text sets can become linked text assemblages, which are able to resist the pull of the canon. The paper introduces the Linked Text Set Map, a Web-based tool built using the Cosma hypertext framework, designed to visualize relational connections between texts. Findings This paper finds that traditional linked text sets, while intended to support curricular inclusion, often reinforce canonical hierarchies through their anchor-based design. Reframing the text set as a rhizomatic assemblage offers a way to decentralize curriculum and foster emergent, relational meaning-making. Research limitations/implications Future research should examine how the Linked Text Set Map tool functions in classroom and teacher education settings. Practical implications This paper offers a tool for designing inclusive, non-hierarchical text sets, supporting both pre- and in-service teachers in moving toward a curriculum that is not anchored to the canon. Originality/value This paper introduces a new framework and tool for reimagining linked text sets through rhizomatic curriculum design.