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- Convenors:
-
Heike Drotbohm
(University of Mainz)
Antónia Pedroso de Lima (ISCTE-IUL CRIA)
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- Discussant:
-
Maria Claudia Coelho
(Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro)
- Format:
- Panel
- Location:
- 10 University Square (UQ), 01/005
- Sessions:
- Thursday 28 July, -
Time zone: Europe/London
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:
Session 1 Thursday 28 July, 2022, -Paper short abstract:
Many youth are deeply attuned to the new affordances enabled by online emotional disclosure. Examining young New Zealanders' on- and offline communicative practices, I ask what kinds of new emotional ideologies are at play in generationally-specific enactments of intimacy, distancing, and care.
Paper long abstract:
When 22-year-old James wants to tell his boyfriend something important, he avoids face-to-face communication and messages him instead; “it’s easier to talk about your feelings online,” he explains, “because you can quickly change the topic.” James is one of many New Zealander youth who strategically employ distance to enable an intimacy that otherwise feels potentially uncontrollable. Young people, including James, are also, however, deeply attune to how online emotional engagements entail their own pitfalls. This includes the humiliation of being caught out by those unnecessarily vying for attention and the exhaustion of undertaking “emotional labour” on behalf of too many others. Drawing from theories of recognition articulated by Axel Honneth and Paul Ricouer, this presentation examines young New Zealanders’ self-described communicative practices, and in particular, their careful navigation of online emotional entanglements to maximize meaningful connection while protecting themselves from inter-personal disappointments and threats. Based on interviews with youth aged 14-24, I examine young people’s accounts of how their emotional lives constitute self-improvement projects (leading, ideally, to greater self-recognition) alongside their often acute awareness of the power dynamics generated by becoming deeply entangled in emotional exchanges with known and unknown others. I argue that young people recognize themselves as simultaneously porous and bounded emotional subjects and are often highly self-reflexive about their attempts to open up safe avenues for emotional disclosure. In doing so, I ask what kinds of new emotional ideologies are at play in generationally-specific enactments of intimacy, distancing, and care.
Paper short abstract:
Based on field research among humanitarian workers in refugee camps in Greece, the paper focuses on practices and perceptions of care and neglect, on empathy and dehumanization, to address the tensions aid workers experience in contexts where power is perceived and exercised in multiple ways.
Paper long abstract:
Based on five years of field research among humanitarian aid workers in refugee camps in Greece-both in mainland Greece and the islands- the paper seeks to address the tensions felt by humanitarian workers-especially the ones with background in anthropology-during their daily encounters with the people they support, with volunteers and other agencies. Focus will be given on practices such as ‘camp management’ and ‘case management’ that involve specific understandings of the ‘other’- the ‘patient’, the ‘beneficiary’, the ‘person of concern’- as well as certain types of engagement with the latter and eventually, with the self. Making a living in precarious settings-especially after the Greek economic crisis- often involves feeling lonely in the company of others, fostering fragile solidarities and collaborations with coworkers or refugees, managing feelings and practices of care and neglect and handling bureaucracy. As such, the paper will discuss the painful tension and the conflicts between empathy and dehumanization, practices of self-care and self and other management and transformations that allow us to examine power as it is felt and exercised in multiple forms. Finally, the paper will inquire into how social anthropologists position themselves in contexts characterized by power asymmetries and the tools and skills that enable them to survive in the field and hope/work for a better world.
Paper short abstract:
This paper analyses popular claims for justice that raised out of the nursing home crisis in Spain, with a high number of deaths. Rage and indignation became powerful motivations for some relatives to demand legal and public responsibilities, leading to the politicization of conflict and care.
Paper long abstract:
In Spain, the impact of Covid-19 has been very pronounced, and residential settings have been one of the most conflictive environments with the highest number of deaths. In this context, the relatives of elderly people who died in nursing homes have organized themselves in civil platforms to claim rights and ask for justice. The government's guidelines not to refer sick elderly people to hospitals cause a special indignation, but also unplanned closure of the centres or degrading mortuary treatments. They alleged discriminatory treatment of the elderly and violation of fundamental rights, and show the effects of long-lasting processes of disinvestment on public care services, as well as trends towards privatization. They urge the government to lead changes that guarantee decent care for the elderly and to revert a system of care based on deep social inequalities and asymmetric power relations. At this point, rage and indignation became powerful motivations for some relatives to ask for legal and public responsibilities, leading to the politicization of conflict and care.