Political feelings in ecological crises : an Introduction to the Theme Issue “Emotional society-nature-relations” [Emotionale Gesellschaft-Natur-Verhältnisse]

Abstract

This editorial article introduces and contextualises the theme issue on socio-environmental emotionalities in the context of ecological crises. It highlights the political and academic relevance of analysing the emotional and affective registers of shifting society–environment relations in the broader context of the uncertainties, conflicts and multiple crises of a climate-changed world. Grounded in a political and spatial conceptualisation of emotions and affects, this introduction understands emotional and affective expressions as always indicative of contentious and shifting relations of power, knowledge, experience and identity. The editorial article draws on an expanding body of research to outline a series of key analytical perspectives on the political and epistemological role of emotions and affects in environmental politics, subjectivations and knowledge production. The article brings these perspectives in dialogue with the individual contributions to the theme issue, whose rich explorations of political feelings in the context of ecological crises are presented in the final section.