Emotions, embodiment and affects are important drivers in the experience economy, in creative industries in general, in global digital forms of communication, in the performative impact of art works, sound, noise and atmospheres, in the manifestation of contemporary social and political movements, and in political communication becoming predominantly populist. The methodological challenges to investigate new materialities and infrastructures, more-than-representational layers and their affective impact have been addressed by a first generation of affective methodology books (cf. Coleman & Ringrose (Eds.) 2013, Knudsen and Stage (Eds.) 2015, Vannini (Ed.) 2015). This seminar’s aim is to zoom further in on critical moments in capturing/producing empirical material for the study of affect and emotion – in order to rethink how to “stay with the trouble of affects” without reducing affects to discourses and without opposing a representational thinking with a non-representational thinking and without being satisfied by working on affects as forces that cannot be approached. It is necessary to reconsider all the steps in a research design in order to take the leap into the affective realms and in order to fully embrace the empirical opportunities of affective methodologies research.

• See programme with locations for the individual seminars (Everyone is welcome).

September 19

Methodology I: What is affect and why is it a challenge to investigate it? 

September 26

Methodology II: How to develop an affectively attuned research question? 

October 10

Construction/capture of empirical material. 

October 24

Analysing affects I: Mediated textualities

October 31

Analysing affects II: Milieu and im/material practices

November 21

Art and methodology workshop: testing and rehearsing