Panel 114a-114b - Emotions and the powers of care. Sensing, judging, or rejecting asymmetric encounters I  

 

Convenors:
Heike Drotbohm (University of Mainz), Antónia Pedroso de Lima (ISCTE-IUL CRIA)

 

Discussant:
Maria Claudia Coelho (Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro)

 

Short Abstract:
This panel approaches the entanglement between emotions and the political projects of the (un)commoning. At the center are care relations at the intersection between authority and power on the one hand and particular emotions, such as hope, gratitude, sympathy, contempt, fear or shame on the other

 

Long Abstract:
In times of political transformations and eventually even dystopian times, the provision of care, be it offered by institutions of state welfare, charity, humanitarianism or even individuals, turns into a crucial and powerful domain of social in- or exclusion. Furthermore, under conditions of uncertainty, asymmetric encounters in the context of legal counselling, bureaucracies, or in moments of border control can likewise serve as generators of hope, producing social imaginaries and aspirations. For understanding how the asymmetric quality of care relations is interpreted, the anthropology of emotions since the 1990s has paid attention to the micropolitical dimension of emotions, that is, to the ability of emotions to perform, subvert, alter or reinforce macro hierarchical structures in which interactions between individuals take place. Depending on the respective field of encounter, gratitude, sympathy, hope, contempt, humiliation, shame, guilt and disgust can play that role. This panel proposes to intertwine these two themes through papers reflecting on how emotions elicited by the provision or the reception of care, enable a deeper understanding of how the power asymmetries established by those processes are sensed, judged, made use of and/or rejected among the different actors involved.

 

Accepted papers:

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Negotiated Disclosures: Young People’s Emotional Expression On- and Offline 
Susanna Trnka (University of Auckland)

 

Managing lives in Greek refugee camps: Making a living, feeling lonely and (not) caring 
Theodora Lefkaditou (University of the Aegean)

 

Elderly rights and the nursing home crisis in Spain during the pandemic: claims for justice and politicization of care 
Silvia Bofill-Poch (University of Barcelona), Raúl Márquez Porras (University of Barcelona)

 

Experiencing and sensing uncertainty: despair, hope and the powers of care 
Antónia Pedroso de Lima (ISCTE-IUL CRIA)

 

Whose vulnerability? Challenges from participatory research with children with multiple and complex disabilities. 
Maria Pires (ISCSP)

 

Who Cares About Failure? Exploring Emotional Practices of Working Against Shame on Stage 
Helen Franziska Veit (University of Tuebingen)

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