The Affect Theory Reader

by Gregg, Melissa; Seigworth, Gregory J.

• ISBN13: 9780822347767
• ISBN10: 0822347768
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-10-22
• Publisher: Duke Univ Pr

Summary

This field-defining collection consolidates and builds momentum in the burgeoning area of affect studies. The contributors include many of the central theorists of affect-those visceral forces beneath, alongside, or generallyother thanconscious knowing that can serve to drive us toward movement, thought, and ever-changing forms of relation. As Lauren Berlant explores "cruel optimism," Brian Massumi theorizes the affective logic of public threat, and Elspeth Probyn examines shame, they, along with the other contributors, show how an awareness of affect is opening up exciting new insights in disciplines from anthropology, cultural studies, geography, and psychology to philosophy, queer studies, and sociology. In essays diverse in subject matter, style, and perspective, the contributors demonstrate how affect theory illuminates the intertwined realms of the aesthetic, the ethical, and the political as they play out across bodies (human and non-human) in both mundane and extraordinary ways. They reveal the broad theoretical possibilities opened by an awareness of affect as they reflect on topics including ethics, food, public morale, glamor, snark in the workplace, and mental health regimes.The Affect Theory Readerincludes an interview with the cultural theorist Lawrence Grossberg and an afterword by the anthropologist Kathleen Stewart. In the introduction, the editors suggest ways of defining affect, trace the conceptrs"s history, and highlight the role of affect theory in various areas of study.Contributors Sara Ahmed Ben Anderson Lauren Berlant Lone Bertelsen Steven D. Brown Patricia Ticineto Clough Anna Gibbs Melissa Gregg Lawrence Grossberg Ben Highmore Brian Massumi Andrew Murphie Elspeth Probyn Gregory J. Seigworth Kathleen Stewart Nigel Thrift Ian Tucker Megan Watkins

Author Biography

Melissa Gregg is a faculty member in the Department of Gender and Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney. Gregory J. Seigworth is a professor of communication and theater at Millersville University in Pennsylvania.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
An Inventory of Shimmers	p. 1
Impingements
Happy Objects	p. 29
The Future Birth of the Affective Fact: The Political Ontology of Threat	p. 52
Writing Shame	p. 71
Aesthetics and the Everyday
Cruel Optimism	p. 93
Bitter after Taste: Affect, Food, and Social Aesthetics	p. 118
An Ethics of Everyday Infinities and Powers: Félix Guattari on Affect and the Refrain	p. 138
Incorporeal/Inorganic
Modulating the Excess of Affect: Morale in a State of ôTotal Warö	p. 161
After Affect: Sympathy, Synchrony, and Mimetic Communication	p. 186
The Affective Turn: Political Economy, Biomedia, and Bodies	p. 206
Managing Affects
Eff the Ineffable: Affect, Somatic Management, and Mental Health Service Users	p. 229
On Friday Night Drinks: Workplace Affects in the Age of the Cubicle	p. 250
Desiring Recognition, Accumulating Affect	p. 269
After Affect
Understanding the Material Practices of Glamour	p. 289
Affect's Future: Rediscovering the Virtual in the Actual	p. 309
Afterword: Worlding Refrains	p. 339
References	p. 355
Contributors	p. 381
Index	p. 385
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.