29790a

Feminist Feelings: Emotions, Politics, and Anti-Racist Praxis

Rosa Cordillera Castillo

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In The Cultural Politics of Emotion, Sara Ahmed emphasizes the centrality of what she refers to as feminist emotions in feminist politics and anti-racist critique. "My concern," she writes "is not only to 3 think about how one becomes attached to feminism, but how feminism involves an emotional response to the world, where the form of that response involves a reorientation of one’s bodily relation to social norms" (2004: 170-171). She critiques the way feminists, particularly subaltern women, are often dismissed as "emotional," a construction that is used to label them as irrational, biased, out of place, and even hostile. Ahmed challenges this hierarchy and separation of rational thought and emotions, instead arguing that feminism as a political project involves emotional investment. She shows that feelings such as wonder, love, anger, pain, solidarity, and hope sustain and drive feminist politics. Taking Ahmed's work as both provocation and inspiration, this seminar examines the entanglement of the political and the emotional, particularly within gender equality and anti -racist praxis. We ask: how is the political linked to emotions? What makes emotions political? How do the politics of emotion intersect with gendered histories of colonialism and capitalism? And, crucially, what are feminist emotions, and how do they operate in relation to feminist and anti -racist struggles? Building on Ahmed's work, we engage as well with complementary perspectives, including the writings by bell hooks, Audre Lorde, Deborah Gould, adrienne maree brown, and Cathy Park Hong, among others. Through these texts, we explore how feminist emotions emerge, circulate, and inspire action across different contexts and histories. By the end of the semester, students will: • Grasp key concepts related to political emotions and their intersections with feminism and anti-racist politics; • Analyse the dynamics of feminist emotions across diverse contexts; and • Apply theoretical and contextual insights to critically reflect on readings, materials, current events, and their own research projects. close

Additional appointments

Thu, 2025-04-17 14:00 - 16:00