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Edited by Melissa Gregg, University of Sydney & Gregory J. Seigworth, Millersville University
“The Affect Theory Reader is
unique. It gathers interesting and provocative articles on affect by well-known
theorists and suggestively brings to expression the productive divergence
between different philosophical and psychological positions on the
subject.” – Erin Manning, author of Politics of Touch:
Sense, Movement, Sovereignty
“Written by some of the most interesting
and important thinkers in the field, the essays in this superb collection prove
how any serious consideration of culture and politics needs to involve serious attention
to affect. The Affect Theory Reader covers remarkable ground: from the
ontology of ‘future threat’ in Bush’s pre-emptive politics to
the management of workplace affects in the information economy; from the
biology of human mimicry to attachments to promises of the ‘good
life’ that often cruelly wear out economically precarious subjects.
Thoughtfully curated and genuinely interdisciplinary with contributors from
fields ranging from media studies to geography, Melissa Gregg and Gregory J.
Seigworth’s reader will be indispensable to anyone working in or adjacent
to affect theory.” – Sianne Ngai, author of Ugly Feelings
This field-defining collection consolidates and
builds momentum in the burgeoning area of affect studies. Major thinkers
theorize affect: visceral forces beneath, alongside, or generally other than
conscious 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, glamour, snark in the workplace and mental health regimes. In
the introduction, the editors suggest ways of defining affect, trace the
concept’s history and highlight the role of affect theory in various
areas of study.
Duke University Press
December 2010 392pp PB £16.99 = Now only £12.00
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