The Cultural Politics of Emotion

Praise for the first edition
“Ahmed's work contributes to cultural studies and rhetorical theory by elaborating a process through which we can approach everyday emotional practices as rich and complex sites interwoven in struggles for social change.” —Rachel C. Riedner, JAC
What do emotions do? How do emotions move us or get us stuck? In developing a theory of the cultural politics of emotion, Sara Ahmed focuses on the relationship between emotions, language, and bodies. She shows how emotions are named in speech acts, as well as how they involve sensations that can be felt not only emotionally, but physically. A new methodology for reading 'the emotionality of texts' is offered as are analyses of the role of emotions in debates on international terrorism, asylum and migration, and reconciliation and reparation. Attending to the intersections between race, gender, and sexuality, The Cultural Politics of Emotion is in dialogue with key trends in gender studies and cultural studies, the psychology and sociology of emotions, and phenomenology and psychoanalysis. It takes as its point of entry different emotions — pain, hate, fear, disgust, shame, and love — and reflects on the role of emotions in feminist and queer politics.
In a special afterword to this tenth anniversary edition, Ahmed explains to readers how this classic book relates to other key works in the emergent field of affect studies and also reflects on the way the book has been part of her own intellectual trajectory.
Sara Ahmed is Professor in Race and Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths University of London.