Synopses & Reviews
This field-defining collection consolidates and builds momentum in the burgeoning area of affect studies. The contributors include many of the central theorists of affectandmdash;those 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 andldquo;cruel optimism,andrdquo; 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 Reader includes 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 conceptandrsquo;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
Review
andldquo;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 andlsquo;future threatandrsquo; in Bushandrsquo;s preemptive politics to the management of workplace affects in the information economy; from the biology of human mimicry to attachments to promises of the andlsquo;good lifeandrsquo; that often cruelly wear out economically precarious subjects. Thoughtfully curated and genuinely interdisciplinary, with contributors from fields ranging from media studies to geography, Melissa Greggandrsquo;s and Gregory J. Seigworthandrsquo;s reader will be indispensable to anyone working in or adjacent to affect theory.andrdquo;andmdash;Sianne Ngai, author of Ugly Feelings
Review
andldquo;
The Affect Theory Reader is . . . a very valuable resource: it presents essays
in conversation in such a way as to provoke further discussion, to hone various definitions and approaches to affect. Gregg and Seigworth frame the conversations in such a way as to draw out the differences between approaches, and their substantial introduction serves as an apt survey of current work. . . . Gregg and Seigworth have assembled an impressive collection of essays and, in their introduction, certainly recognize the limits and scope of such a project. The work is impressive and will certainly catalyze further development in affect theory across disciplines.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;As the first definitive collection of essays on affect studies, The Affect Theory Reader demonstrates how the affective turn in academia has been, and continues to be felt, throughout a variety of disciplines.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;While a reader of the book might be left less rather than more sure of what precisely constitutes andlsquo;affect theoryandrsquo;, or even affect itself, s/he is nevertheless very likely to be moved by the range of both thought and affective styles that make up the volume and constitute what the editors call in the introduction, an andlsquo;inventory of shimmersandrsquo; (p11). This incitement to andlsquo;more than discourseandrsquo;,
the capacity andlsquo;to touch, to move, to mobilise readersandrsquo; (p24) is exactly what one would hope for from a reader of affect theory, and is what the contributions that make up this collection indeed achieve.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;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.andrdquo;andmdash;Erin Manning, author of Politics of Touch: Sense, Movement, Sovereignty
Synopsis
A collection of essays on affect theory, by groundbreaking scholars in the field.
Synopsis
A field-defining collection that consolidates thinking and builds momentum in the burgeoning area of affect studies.
About the Author
Melissa Gregg works in the Department of Gender and Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney in Australia. She is the author of Cultural Studiesandrsquo; Affective Voices.
Gregory J. Seigworth is a professor in communication and theater at Millersville University in Pennsylvania.