Devenirs

Devenirs is a philosophical term derived from the French noun devenir, meaning becoming. In philosophy, devenirs denotes processes or states of change that resist fixation into stable essences. It emphasizes continual transformation, relation, and difference rather than static identity.

In post-structuralist thought, most notably in the work of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, devenir is a procedural concept used to analyze social, political, and personal life as a field of ongoing transformation. Becomings are not teleological trajectories toward a final form but experimental modalities that unfold through negotiation with power, bodies, and environments.

Becoming examples commonly cited include becoming-woman, becoming-animal, and becoming-imperceptible, illustrating that identity is not fixed but produced through process and deterritorialization. These becomings are not about achieving a predefined end but about dissolving rigid categories and exploring relational modes of existence.

Becoming contrasts with traditional metaphysics that privilege being and essence. It foregrounds process, fluidity, and the continual production of difference. Politically and ethically, becoming offers a way to resist fixed identities and hierarchies by foregrounding relationality and change rather than stable, excluded images of self.

Critics argue that the framework can be vague, difficult to translate into concrete political action, or susceptible to relativism. Proponents counter that devenirs provides a flexible vocabulary for analyzing how identities and social arrangements are continually reconfigured.

Historically, devenirs feature prominently in the writings of Deleuze and Guattari, particularly in A Thousand Plateaus (1980) and related works, where becoming serves as a central method for thinking difference, power, and transformation.