13 research outputs found
The affective life of semiotics
The paper challenges writings on affect that locate affective dynamism in
autonomic bodily responses while positing discourse and language as
"capturing" affect. To move beyond such "verticalism", the paper seeks
to further an understanding of language, and semiotics more broadly, as
itself affective. Drawing on participatory research conducted in Rio de
Janeiro, it uses poetic expression as a paradigmatic case of the affective life of semiotics. Conceptually, it builds on Guattari's discussion of affect
in connection to Hjelmslev's semiotic approach and Bakhtin's account of the
process of enunciation. It is argued that semiotics play a crucial role in
conjuring affective intensities, whereby expressions themselves become affective, as they modify sensory and material registers including prosody
and the voice. The argument thus leads to a new understanding of the
expression of affect as well as the affectivity of expressions. As expressions become affective, they draw subjects into
ongoing processes of affecting and being affected. Such a view moves away
from conceptions of semiotics "capturing" or even "translating" or
"constructing" affect. It also displaces prevalent conceptions of
"affective transmission" in terms of the circulation of physical
substances body to body. Moreover, it furthers discursive and semiotic
methodologies while also inviting a reconsideration of affective ontologies
Public leadership as public-making
This article focuses on public leadership as public-making, drawing on the work of an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) seminar series on Emergent Publics. The article explores three sets of processes on which public- making depends: those of summoning, mediation and mobilization. Together, it is argued, these offer a way of promoting a politics of public action