Affect Theory Reader 2

Building on the foundational Affect Theory Reader, this new volume gathers together contemporary scholarship that highlights and interrogates the contemporary state of affect inquiry. Unsettling what might be too readily taken-for-granted assumptions in affect theory, The Affect Theory Reader 2 extends and challenges how contemporary theories of affect intersect with a wide range of topics and fields that include Black studies, queer and trans theory, Indigenous cosmologies, feminist cultural analysis, psychoanalysis, and media ecologies. It foregrounds vital touchpoints for contemporary studies of affect, from the visceral elements of climate emergency and the sensorial sinews of networked media to the minor feelings entangled with listening, looking, thinking, writing, and teaching otherwise. Tracing affect’s resonances with today’s most critical debates, The Affect Theory Reader 2 will reorient and disorient readers to the past, present, and future potentials of affect theory. Contributors. Lauren Berlant, Lisa Blackman, Rizvana Bradley, Ann Cvetkovich, Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román, Adam J. Frank, M. Gail Hamner, Omar Kasmani, Cecilia Macón, Hil Malatino, Erin Manning, Derek P. McCormack, Patrick Nickleson, Susanna Paasonen, Tyrone S. Palmer, Carolyn Pedwell, Jasbir K. Puar, Jason Read, Michael Richardson, Dylan Robinson, Tony D. Sampson, Kyla Schuller, Gregory J. Seigworth, Nathan Snaza, Kathleen Stewart, Elizabeth A. Wilson

“The Affect Theory Reader 2 surveys the burgeoning field whose development its predecessor did so much to catalyze. In the intervening thirteen years, the study of affect has spread its capillaries across an ever-growing spectrum of disciplines, while at the same time expanding the scope of its own problematics. This new anthology skillfully presents a much-needed digest of the state of the field today. The essays it brings together address a wide range of topics, opening new perspectives on some of the most pressing issues of our time, including, in a reckoning that is long overdue for the field, an emphasis on issues of race. This is an excellent and timely volume that readers interested in affect studies and allied areas will find indispensable.”, “The essays in The Affect Theory Reader 2 offer galvanizing, clarifying experiments with thought and form. Wholly reimagined from its previous incarnation, this ‘cluster of attunings’ showcases the maturity of this line of inquiry and so many of its emergent conversations, while at the same time finding the mettle to rethink the origins and legacies of ‘affect theory’ as such. An exciting offering for anyone who imagines the minor registers of experience deserves an unmistakably major volume.”

Gregory J. Seigworth is Professor of Communication and Theatre at Millersville University. Carolyn Pedwell is Professor of Cultural Studies and Media at the University of Kent.