Working with Affect in Feminist Readings: Disturbing Differences

Description

Affect has become something of a buzzword in cultural and feminist theory during the past decade. References to affect, emotions and intensities abound, their implications in terms of research practices have often remained less manifest. Working with Affect in Feminist Readings: Disturbing Differences explores the place and function of affect in feminist knowledge production in general and in textual methodology in particular. With an international group of contributors from studies of history, media, philosophy, culture, ethnology, art, literature and religion, the volume investigates affect as the dynamics of reading, as carnal encounters and as possibilities for the production of knowledge. Working with Affect in Feminist Readings asks what exactly are we doing when working with affect, and what kinds of ethical, epistemological and ontological issues this involves. Not limiting itself to descriptive accounts, the volume takes part in establishing new ways of understanding feminist methodology. Book Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 5 Copyright......Page 6 Contents......Page 7 Contributors......Page 9 Introduction: Feeling differences – affect and feminist reading......Page 13 1 An affective turn? Reimagining the subject of feminist theory......Page 20 Part I Affective attachments......Page 41 2 Creating disturbance: Feminism, happiness and affective differences......Page 43 3 A sense of play: Affect, emotion and embodiment in World of Warcraft......Page 57 4 Disturbing, fleshy texts: Close looking at pornography......Page 70 5 Expanding laughter: Affective viewing, body image incongruity and Fat Actress......Page 84 6 Daughters of privilege: Class, sexuality, affect and the Gilmore Girls......Page 97 Part II Dynamics of difference......Page 111 7 Differences disturbing identity: Deleuze and feminism......Page 113 8 Nomadic bodies, transformative spaces: Affective encounters with Indian spirituality......Page 124 9 Hips don’t lie?: Affective and kinaesthetic dance ethnography......Page 138 10 Ethics of empathy and reading in Shani Mootoo’s Cereus Blooms at Night......Page 152 11 Beyond redemption?: Mobilizing affect in feminist reading......Page 163 12 Crossing the east-west divide: Feminist affective dialogues......Page 177 13 Working with affect in the corporate university......Page 194 Index......Page 205