Emotions, Politics and War
Interventions Series

A growing number of scholars have sought to re-centre emotions in our study of international politics, however an overarching book on how emotions matter to the study of politics and war is yet to be published. This volume is aimed at filling that gap, proceeding from the assumption that a nuanced understanding of emotions can only enhance our engagement with contemporary conflict and war.

Providing a range of perspectives from a diversity of methodological approaches on the conditions, maintenance and interpretation of emotions, the contributors interrogate the multiple ways in which emotions function and matter to the study of global politics. Accordingly, the innovative contribution of this volume is its specific engagement with the role of emotions and constitution of emotional subjects in a range of different contexts of politics and war, including the gendered nature of war and security; war traumas; post-conflict reconstruction; and counterinsurgency operations.

Looking at how we analyse emotions in war, why it matters, and what emotions do in global politics, this volume will be of interest to students and scholars of critical security studies and international relations alike.

1. Introduction: Mapping emotions, politics and war – Linda Åhäll and Thomas Gregory A. Researching Emotions 2. The remains of the day - Brian Massumi, 3. Stories of pain and longing: reflecting on emotion, boundaries and feminism through Carrie Mathison and Carrie White - Marysia Zalewski 4. Human dignity, basal emotion and a global emotionology - Karin M. Fierke 5. Embodiment, emotions, and materialism in International Relations - Ty Solomon 6. Anger, war and feminist storytelling - Swati Parashar 7. On ’being bored’ - Street ethnography on emotions in Banda Acehafter the tsunami and conflict - Marjaana Jauhola 8. Experimenting with emotions - Rose McDermott B. Emotionality and War 9. Compassionate soldiering and comfort - Julia Welland 10. Waiting for war: Soldiering, temporality and the gendered politics of boredom and joy in military spaces - Victoria M. Basham 11. Making war work: Resilience, emotional fitness, and affective economies in Western militaries – Alison Howell 12. 'Every man jack of them tried their damndest to control their emotions': Grief in the 1982 Falklands war - Helen Parr 13. Constructing crises and articulating affect after 9/11 - Jack Holland 14. Photographing war: Don McCullin, Vietnam and the politics of emotion – Thomas Gregory 15. Exposed images of war - Emmanuel-Pierre Guittet and Andreja Zevnik 16. Grief and the transformation of emotions after war - Emma Hutchison and Roland Bleiker 17. Concluding reflection – Linda Åhäll and Thomas Gregory

Linda Ahall is a Lecturer in International Relations at Keele University, UK. 

Thomas Gregory is a Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at Auckland University, New Zealand.