The Affect Theory Reader

417 Pages·2010·52.4 MB·English

by  Melissa Gregg

The AJfect Theory Reader

THE AFFECT THEORY READER
Edited by Melissa Gregg and Gregory /. Seigworth
DUKE UNIVERSITY PRESS Durham & London 2010
C> 2.010 Duke Uni\l'l:rsity Press
All righu rcscn'<d
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free papcT oo
Designed by Jcllllifer Hill 1}'pcsct in Minion Pro by Kcym>nc Typuctting,lnc. Ubrary of
Congress Cataloging-in-Publ.ic.ation Data appear on the last printed page of this book.
Brian MU6umi'a ..T he Future Birth of the AIKctive Fact: The Political Ontology of Threat'•
was origin.ally published in lnd<Xi«~lity •nd V'rno.ality, cd;tcd by Grisclda Pollock (L B. Tauru.s,
2.010).
An earlier vcnion of Elspeth Probyn's "Writing Shame. . appeared in Blush: Faces of
Sh4me (Minnesota. 2005).
An earliervcnion of lauren Bcrfant's "Crud Optimism" appeared in di}fermces
17(3) (>oo6): 20-36.
An earlier vcnion of Nigel Thrift•s "Undcntanding the Mate-rial Practices of Glamour"
aoncarcd in foumal afC ultural Bconomv a( al (2.008): ~2'·
In memory ofE ve KDsofsky Sedgwick 1950-2009

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
An Inventory ofS himmers
t
J.
Gregory Seigworth & Melissa Gregg
ONE Impingements
Happy Objects 29
Sara Ahmed
2 The Future Birth of the Affective Fact: The Political
Ontology ofT hreat 52
Brian Massumi
3 Writing Shame 71
Elspeth Probyn
TWO Aesthetics and the Everyday
4 Cruel Optimism 93
Lauren
Berlar~t
5 Bitter after Taste: Affect, Food, and Social Aesthetics uS
Ben Highmore
viii Contents
6 An Ethics ofE veryday Infinities and Powers: Felix Guattari on Affect
and the Refrain 138
Lone Bertelsen & Andrew Murphie
THREE Incorporeal/Inorganic
7 Modulating the Excess ofA ffect: Morale in a State of"Total War" 161
Ben Anderson
8 After Affect: Sympathy, Synchrony, and Mimetic Communication 186
Anna Gibbs
9 The Affective Thrn: Political Economy, Biomedia, and Bodies 206
Patricia T. Clough
FOUR Managing Affects
I 0 Eff the Ineffable: Affect, Somatic Management, and Mental Health
Service Users
229
Steven D. Brown & Jan Tucker
II On Friday Night Drinks: Workplace Affects in the Age
of the Cubicle 250
Melissa Gregg
12 Desiring Recognition, Accumulating Affect 269
Megan WatkiriS
FIVE After Affect
13 Understanding the Material Practices ofG lamour 289
Nigel Thrift
14 Affect's Future: Rediscovering the Virtual in the Actual 309
Lawrence Grossberg
J.
(Interviewed by Gregory Seigworth & Melissa Gregg)
Afterword: Worlding Refrains 339
Kathleen Stewart
References 355
Contributors 381
Index 385
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Partway through the introduction to this collection, it will
become dear why it was significant that I read Greg's final draft
while I was cramped on the ftoor of a late train during a long
and crowded commute. I write these words from a new home,
having embarked on an experiment to disrupt some old habits
and hopefuJJy allow more time to register "the stretching:'
By sheer coincidence, during the final stages of this project
both Greg and I moved house on opposite sides oft he world in
the very same week. This is just one of the sweet synergies and
sympathies we have shared over the years that I hope will
continue long after this publication. It is Greg's venerable alac
rity as a reader that makes me so delighted that a book now
stands as an archive of the hope and sustenance I have gained
from a defining intellectual friendship. Greg's brilliant mind,
graceful words, and contagious hospitality have made this a far
greater achievement than I could have imagined
Our contributors have been more than generous in offering
words, affirmation, and patience during the long gestation of
this collection. We thank them for believing in us and persist
ing through the many stages-and hope they enjoy the result