Drawing on anthropology, philosophy, sociology, psychology, communication studies, and political science, as well as case studies from various parts of the world, this seminar interrogates the ways in which the political and the emotional are entangled, particularly in building and enacting solidarity and in polarizing societies amid multiple and intersecting local, national, and global upheavals. Throughout the seminar, we consider the questions: How is the political linked to emotions? What makes emotions political? How are political emotions generated, cultivated, or stifled? What do emotions do in relation to solidarity and polarization? How do we locate and investigate the emotional in the political and vice versa? And, what does using the lens of political emotions add to our understanding of political processes and contemporary upheavals?

In highlighting the role and complexities of political emotions as it relates to solidarity and polarization, this seminar deepens the understanding, investigation, and analysis of social and political processes and contemporary upheavals in local, transregional, and global contexts.


Semester: SuTerm 2023