Gender Studies 330: Affect Theory and Gendered Subjectivities

In this course students will examine the impact of the “affective turn” within gender studies. Affect theory complicates the boundaries between mind and body, stressing how social life—of which gender embodiment is a significant part—is irreducible to cognitive processes alone. It is particularly attentive to the role of emotions and feelings in the formation of gendered subjectivities. Affect—such as joy, pride, shame, and anger—exceeds the disciplining powers of consciousness and representation, pointing (back) to the body, to a reality that is viscerally felt. We will read and critically discuss some of the most important contributions in “Affect Theory” with an eye for gender and subjectivity formation.