Affective Spaces

Browse Items (56 total)

  • What is China Poster.png

  • AI-Emotion.jpg

    Shih-Diing Liu
    Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University

    In this presentation, I will explore the relevance of Martin Heidegger’s thought in understanding the sociopolitical significance of technology in general, and AI in particular. My engagement with Heidegger has been somewhat ‘accidental’—I initially aimed to study AI companionship through the work of Hubert Dreyfus, who examines the nature and evolution of AI technologies from a Heideggerian perspective. This presentation will specifically focus on Heidegger’s theorization of technology and how it enhances our critical understanding of AI and its political implications.

    (The event is hosted by the Institute for Rebooting Social Media, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, Harvard University, on April 1, 2025.)

    Photo source: https://digitalmag.theceomagazine.com/when-ai-gets-emotional/?r=global
  • 作为问题的八十年代史诗热中的抒情理解与时间理解.jpg

    了解我的朋友都知道，我这些年的讲座、课程，聚焦讲文学的不多，而更多讲历史、思想问题。如此，当然并非我不重视文学，而恰恰在于我特别重视文学写作带给解读的挑战。对我而言，文学的想象、虚构特权，使得解读文学文本要获得一种让我内心踏实的确证感，常常比解读历史、思想文本要获得一种确证感，多出更多程序，对解读者的专注、灵感状态提出了更高要求。而这也就意味着，讲述文学文本不仅更给我压力，而且它常常要花更多的时间才能讲述清楚，也使得它常常不如历史、思想更适合作一次讲座的主题。

    说这些，一方面为介绍我的相关认识，另一方面也在解释，为什么我包括今天作为第一讲的总题为“七八十年代青年诗潮几个未得到充分正视与讨论的问题”的四次报告，每次报告的时间都那么长，并非我愿意独白、不重视交流，而是和文学特别是诗歌这种对象带给解读的要求直接相关。

    另外要向大家特别说明的是，这四讲特别讨论的这些诗人，除海子外，都被作为朦胧诗的代表诗人（北岛、江河、舒婷、顾城、杨炼）或先驱（岳重［根子］）。关于朦胧诗，关于这些诗人的评论、研究很多，评论、研究中的文字很多也很有价值，如果大家时间充足，可以尽量找来看。

    而我把这四讲定名为“七八十年代青年诗潮几个未得到充分正视与讨论的问题”，实际上也是在强调，这些演讲是对已有研究、评论的补充，当然在某些方面也包含着深化、修正现有理解、认识的意图。

    https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/06vtQd7YSUxjytO4KPGWgA

  • aeffect.jpg

    Stephen Duncombe

    The past decade has seen an explosion in the hybrid practice of “artistic activism,” as artists have turned toward activism to make their work more socially impactful and activists have adopted techniques and perspectives from the arts to make their interventions more creative. Yet questions haunt the practice: Does artistic activism work aesthetically? Does it work politically? And what does “working” even mean when one combines art and activism? In Æffect, author Stephen Duncombe sets out to address these questions at the heart of the field of artistic activism.

    Written by the co-founder and current Research Director of the internationally recognized Center for Artistic Activism, Æffect draws on Duncombe’s more than twenty-five years of experi­ence in the field and one hundred in-depth interviews with artistic activists worldwide. More than a mere academic exercise, the theory, research, and tools in this book lay the groundwork for artistic activists to evaluate and strengthen their practice and to create better projects. The exploration of good artistic activism is grounded in three sets of concerns. 1) Change: Upon what theories of change is artistic activism based? 2) Intention: What do we hope and expect artistic activism to do, and how does it do this? 3) Evaluation: What actually happens as the result of an artistic activist intervention? Can it be measured?

    Æffect is rich with examples that demonstrate successful artistic activism, including Undo­cubus, an old bus painted “No Fear” across its side that was driven cross-country by a group of undocumented immigrant activists; Journal Rappé, a video show created by Senegalese rappers who created long-form investigative reports by rapping the current news in French and Wolof; and War on Smog, a staged a public performance piece by artistic activists in the city of Chongqing in Southwest China. Scannable QR codes are included to provide tools that help readers assess the æffect of their artistic activism.

    https://www.fordhampress.com/9781531506513/aeffect/
  • Zionism.jpeg

    Derek Penslar

    Emotion lies at the heart of all national movements, and Zionism is no exception. For those who identify as Zionist, the word connotes liberation and redemption, uniqueness and vulnerability. Yet for many, Zionism is a source of distaste if not disgust, and those who reject it are no less passionate than those who embrace it. The power of such emotions helps explain why a word originally associated with territorial aspiration has survived so many years after the establishment of the Israeli state. Zionism: An Emotional State expertly demonstrates how the energy propelling the Zionist project originates from bundles of feeling whose elements have varied in volume, intensity, and durability across space and time. Beginning with an original typology of Zionism and a new take on its relationship to colonialism, Penslar then examines the emotions that have shaped Zionist sensibilities and practices over the course of the movement’s history. The resulting portrait of Zionism reconfigures how we understand Jewish identity amidst continuing debates on the role of nationalism in the modern world. 

    https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/zionism/9780813576091/
  • CJS-Reception-2024_0099aquare.png

    William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History, Department of History
    Director of the Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University

    Penslar takes a comparative and transnational approach to modern Jewish history, which he studies within the contexts of modern nationalism, capitalism, and colonialism. His books have engaged with a variety of approaches and methods, including the history of emotions (Zionism: An Emotional State, 2023). In two co-edited volumes, Penslar has brought Jewish studies into conversation with postcolonial studies (Orientalism and the Jews, [2005] and Unacknowledged Kinships: Postcolonial Theory and the Historiography of Zionism [2023]). Penslar’s current interests lie in international history, and he is writing a book about worldwide reactions to the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. For more information:

    https://history.fas.harvard.edu/people/derek-penslar
  • Ukraine Russia.jpg

    刘世鼎

    旧的语言的局限是限制了我们的想象力。历史经验的复杂性远远超出了原有的参照体系所能掌握的。这两个苏联解体后的主体撕裂对立，应当放在新的历史条件下来理解。北约扩张、美国势力下滑、乌克兰和俄罗斯的经济困顿、前景迷茫都改变了地缘政治条件。战事爆发前，无论是乌克兰还是俄罗斯都处于脆弱与焦虑状态。疫情更加剧了社会焦虑感及排外情绪。这些新旧矛盾交织在一起创造出了新的历史条件，而旧的语言往往把我们带入旧的关系中，无法对21世纪的新矛盾具有穿透性的理解及把握。旧的语言无法捕捉冲突背后的情绪。Dominique Moisi指出，情绪对于群众态度、国与国之间的行为起到重要作用，情绪冲突是地缘政治的重要面向。忽略了情绪，我们将无法掌握这场危机的本质。

    https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/fN6c1Ld55hjB15haSksZ8w

    photo source:
    https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-one-year-ba61809330c132929a6da34fe99ddab2
  • Does it work.jpeg

    Stephen Duncombe

    In this article, published in Social Research in 2016, C4AA Co-Director Stephen Duncombe muses on the different ways in which activist art can “work.”

    Starting with the questions: Does it Work? and How Can We Know? this article explores the effect and affect, or affect, of activist art. Rejecting a singular definition of how activist art is supposed to work and drawing from the actual practices of activist artists, a range of possible aims is offered and then organized around four primary goals. A methodology, which accounts for the indeterminacy of art and the reality of unintended consequences, is provided as a heuristic tool with which to think through the efficacy of activist art and the development of a metrics appropriate to the practice.

    https://c4aa.org/2017/02/does-it-work-the-aeffect-of-art-activism
  • Why is great reconciliation.jpeg

    Shih-Diing Liu and Wei Shi

    https://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/n9864/pdf/15_focus_liu_shi.pdf

  • Make Harvard Great Again.png

    刘世鼎（哈佛大学费正清中国研究中心客座学者）

    最近有朋友问我，人在哈佛，如何近距离观察特朗普“新政”？其实这个问题很复杂，意见两极化，有些事件仍处于进行式，下判断还言之过早。反倒是我更感兴趣哈佛面对特朗普，是处在一个什么样的状态跟心理，如何回应特朗普上台带来的影响。我根据这里师生的互动、空间的使用以及校园内的活动、海报及校报，提供一个局部微观的角度来理解美国社会当下的情绪结构。

    https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/bltTH9JPyeSOUDecnAK3UA
  • 澎湃以巴.png

    今年2月，澳门大学社会科学学院传播系刘世鼎教授与史唯副教授所合著的新书《情感空间》（Affective Spaces: The Cultural Politics of Emotion in China）由英国爱丁堡大学出版社出版，该书为理解当代中国社会提供了重要的分析框架，并为后续学者探索情感公共领域开辟了新的空间与思想资源。书中论述了情感和情绪在当代中国公共文化中起到的关键作用。通过考察政治激情的流动以及情感主体如何通过多种文化形式参与社会实践，两位作者以政治艺术、社交媒体、身体实践和电影为案例，展示了情感如何为创新的文化与政治分析提供了可能性，并多维度解析了情感对当代政治主体性形成的影响。这本书出版后，引起国际学界广泛讨论。宾夕法尼亚大学数字文化与社会研究中心主任杨国斌认为《情感空间》分析了当代公共生活中情感的几个关键时刻，“是对情感、媒体和社会研究的重要贡献。”《情感公众》作者Zizi Papacharissi写道：“书中层次丰富、精巧细腻，并且读起来很有趣。《情感空间》展示了参与性实践如何依赖情绪、氛围和感受，以重新想象文化的边界。这是一本具有现代感和当代视角的著作，做出了重要的贡献。”

    过去一年，刘世鼎陆续在东亚研究知识分享平台“谓无名”、约翰霍普金斯大学东亚研究中心、宾夕法尼亚大学当代中国研究中心、香港大学全球化与文化研究中心、香港中文大学新闻与传播学院、南京大学新闻与传播学院以及哈佛大学燕京学社进行一系列新书演讲，但从未以文字形式呈现本书内容。本次专访将围绕本书的核心概念，以及如何将其应用到理解当前世界情势与年轻人所关心社会热点话题上进行探讨。

    “情感转向”（affective turn）是20世纪末全球人文社科领域的重要理论转向，学者们开始关注情感、情绪和感官体验背后的社会与政治意义。实际上，早在这一转向之前，女性主义理论与精神分析学说就已经着重探讨了个体主观体验与社会结构之间的互动。个人生活中的问题（如家务劳动、育儿、婚姻、性别角色等）不仅是私人事务，更反映了更广泛的社会、文化和政治不平等。在这个意义上，“情感转向”的关键贡献之一就在于对“公共”与“私人”界限的重新思考，并且重新把个体感受经验赋予公共意义。如今，越来越多学者开始关注情感在理解当代生活中的重要性，许多讨论集中在情感如何巩固与维系现状、如何作为可被售卖的商品，以及如何变成了动员的工具等。

    随着社交媒体的兴起，公众的表达和身份认同受到情感的驱动表现得越来越明显，这一转变在集体身份的形成和社会动员机制上发挥了关键作用。在本次采访中，刘世鼎探讨了情感在政治经济讨论中的地位，质疑了社会与政治理论中普遍存在的理性预设跟偏见，并从“感觉结构”的角度解读当前地缘政治冲突，如俄乌和巴以冲突。同时，刘世鼎分享了他对东亚地区复杂情感结构对区域和解与和平僵局的看法，并探讨了超越愤怒和仇恨、设想新的政治模式的可能。此外，他还讨论了当下青年文化中的焦虑以及东亚语境中的“厌女”现象，从情感和情绪的角度来审视这些现象。这些讨论有助于读者更全面地理解情感在当代社会中的多重角色。

    https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/6wuVw8Q7MV3qGJb-n3ELMA
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    周敏、劉世鼎

    隨著短視頻直播平台快手的興起，以農民工青年為代表的草根群體成為平台內容的創作者。本文基於觀察與訪談，從文化生產平台化與希望勞動交錯的理論視角，考察了快手與用戶的互動如何為農民工青年構築「平台逐夢」的希望情緒，從而將用戶逐漸收編為平台的「希望勞動者」。隨著平台治理與商業模式轉變的影響，雖然快手為農民工青年提供了成為自我企業家的現實路徑，但也帶來更多的不確定，甚至使農民工青年陷入新的「數字流水線」。本研究認為希望勞動並不只是為了獲得潛在的回報機會而從事的免費勞動，亦是為了逃脫現實困境而不得不採取的策略，折射出農民工青年在快手平台實踐中不斷協商過去、現在與未來矛盾衝突的過程。

    https://www.cschinese.com/issueArticle.asp?P_No=119&CA_ID=789
  • Cover.png

    Social media is saturated with complex emotions. Although emotions play a crucial role in shaping popular identities and formulating public culture, their implications remain poorly understood. This presentation contextualizes the concept of affective space and explains its potential for stimulating innovative research, offering nuanced insights into topics such as affective publics and archives of feelings.

    (The presentation took place at the Department of Communication, University of Illinois Chicago, on March 19, 2025, and was hosted by Prof. Steve Jones.)
  • Guobin Yang.jpeg

    The Performativity of Faking (and Fakes) on Social Media

    Keynote speech by Guobin Yang, Grace Lee Boggs Professor of Communication and Sociology, Annenberg School for Communication & Department of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania.

    Abstract

    Faking is performative. It grabs attention through techniques of dramatization. To understand why fake news, disinformation, and related faking behaviour have become a social media crisis, it is important to understand its logic of performativity. This talk examines this logic through an analysis of the politics and poetics of performativity on social media platforms in China and the US. Such an analysis has implications for understanding how to respond to today’s fake news crisis.

    https://cts.ku.dk/tim-talks/2024/the-performativity-of-faking/

    The Fictionalization of People in Cyberspace: A Character Study

    HUM:Global Talk! by Guobin Yang, the Grace Lee Boggs Professor of Communication and Sociology, the University of Pennsylvania.

    Abstract

    In contemporary digital culture, there is an intriguing phenomenon of fictionalizing real persons on social media. Entertainment stars and politicians are always fictionalized in some ways, but ordinary people may also become the object of fictionalization. As a result, they take on features of fictional characters. The circulation of such fictionalized characters on social media has many ramifications. This talk explores the multiple ways in which real persons are fictionalized on social media and how the literary concept of character may be useful for understanding the significance of this digital practice.

    https://globalhumanities.ku.dk/events/the-fictionalization-of-people-in-cyberspace-a-character-study/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3r6WbJMmIb9K4nwQK0OJotUEvTfS-5QMpQvn4MIoK_vYa14Zq-p3mrRv8_aem_AbGco-yScRPNq_OqbEaH9BFTcah6JDGd8Hdu266eot5W_XuY6N-GLke9LOk_pBaXncy5jP8v3XpQhXFwKtMDqltC

  • Sisters Make Waves.jpeg

    The reality TV sensation Sisters Who Make Waves has recently garnered public attention in China while sparking critical debate about middle-aged women. This article reexamines the politics of popular feminism by analyzing the visibility of tears within the show. Viewing tears as a signifying practice, this article investigates how they reveal the paradox of contemporary Chinese popular feminism to expose its ambivalence and contradictions. We suggest that tears signify popular feminism’s ambiguous stance toward patriarchal values, neoliberal principles, and state control. This study contends that the show’s popular feminism presents critical possibilities despite its inherent limitations, such as refraining from directly challenging patriarchal dominance and systematic gender inequalities. While tears reveal middle-aged women’s aspirations for self-realization, recognition, and empowerment, they also expose how neoliberalism emotionally exploits women through pursuing personal achievement. Tears enhance the visibility of women’s struggles and illuminate the formation of sisterhood within a male-dominated society. They also intertwine with state-promoted notions of sisterhood, which ultimately reinforce political allegiance to nationalism. Therefore, this study proposes that popular feminism in Sisters Who Make Waves acts as a double-edged sword. It reinforces hegemonic power while exposing its emotional disturbances. Such ambivalence creates a space for reimagining popular feminism.

    https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14680777.2023.2271179
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