Affective Relations / Thinking Gender in Transnational Times (PDF)

Carolyn Pedwell is Senior Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies at Newcastle University, UK. She is author of Feminism, Culture and Embodied Practice: The Rhetorics of Comparison and co-editor of 'Affecting Feminism: Questions of Feeling in Feminist Theory', a special issue of Feminist Theory.

“It not only contributes to a growing body of scholarship on affect theory and neoliberal governmentality, but also problematises the ways in which empathy is mobilised by Western corporations, governments and humanitarian organisations. Affective Relations is a thought-provoking read that will appeal to a broad range of scholars, including those interested in postcolonial or transnational feminism, critical race theory and/or political anthropology.” (Robin Valenzuela, feminist review, Vol. 116 (1), July, 2017)




“Pedwell engages with the politics of empathy as a politics of emotion that is simultaneously material and discursive, relational and embodied, local and transnational. Due to its disciplinary breadth, Affective Relations has something to offer anyone studying emotion from a biological, cultural, and/or political perspective.” (Nicole Laliberté, Emotion, Space and Society, Vol. 21, November, 2016)





“Pedwell’s rich study examines the diverse ways in which empathy is mobilised – from political speeches that uphold neoliberalism, to postcolonial literatures that refuse certain forms of empathic connection. … The framework of Affective Relations is strongly interdisciplinary, bringing literatures from feminism, postcolonialism, neuroscience, psychoanalysis and popular science into dialogue. … This is an ambitious project that highlights how empathy materialises in different spheres, through different media, and through different types of encounter.” (Amanda Rogers, societyandspace.org, April, 2015)