The world of emotions

Call for papers thematic issue
The world of emotions

The questioning of emotions is becoming increasingly important in the humanities and social sciences and is based on an interdisciplinary theoretical approach on the one hand aimed at reading and analysing the effects of emotions on the experience of our contemporary world and on the other hand on a phenomenological approach aimed at deciphering forms of sensitivities within the framework of a theory of social life that is attentive to the effects of emotions and its associated notions (affects, atmospheres, passions, empathies, feelings). We will question the forms of social and cultural representations associated with the theory of urban ambiences and atmospheres, the role of digital networks, images (cinema, TV series, etc.), and cognitive experiences: all of which will make it possible to show how the aesthetic experience of social reality is constructed. If emotions are a fundamental part of human nature, our intention is to turn them into a kind of «societal laboratory» from a multi-perspectivist observation and study perspective.

Emotional studies in the humanities and social sciences are characterized by a permanent questioning and reading of the sensitive experience of the world. It is through an in-depth look at the various aspects of experience that we can capture the specificities of emotions and their multiple influences on life. Although the sociology of emotions, despite its long tradition (Auguste Comte, Emile Durkheim, Norbert Elias, Marcel Mauss, Max Scheler, Max Weber) has remained little explored in France, we note a growing interest in it, particularly from the perspective of an interdisciplinary understanding of social life where emotions are to be thought of as essential dimensions of collective experience. This leads us to the construction of a language capable of giving form to sensitive experiences that unfold in the social order in the city, digital networks, cultural works and effervescence, daily life, etc. The sensitive approach to emotions is directed towards an articulation of visual, perceptive, cognitive and cultural expressions, to be deciphered also through comparative studies between researchers from other research centers.

This editorial project is built around two axes to produce two distinct issues:

 1)  Epistemology and phenomenology of emotions

 The understanding of emotions is considered from interdisciplinary approaches (sociology, anthropology, cognitive psychology, philosophy, media, literature, cultural studies) in order to show theoretically and empirically how emotions influence different areas of social life. An epistemological exploration will be necessary in order to place the study of and on emotions as a fruitful, perennial research field and to question its importance in the analyses of the humanities and social sciences. On the other hand, on a phenomenological basis, it will be a question of showing how emotions, feelings and affects condition the different levels of social experience and their impact on the way we experience the world. A reflection on cultural practices, digital experience, forms of mediatisation or cultural works will illustrate these theoretical contributions. It will also question the definitions of emotions and the methodologies by privileging the centrality of the qualitative approach and understanding.

 2)  Urban sensibilities: atmospheres, atmospheres, emotions

In relation to the annual cycle of seminars «Metropole Sensible», initiated in 2013 by the sociology laboratory of the University Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3, conceived as a space for reflection and debate around the city and its imaginary and sensitive dimensions, we will focus our reflections on the approach to emotions linked to urban spatiality. The issue at stake in the reflections is the dimension of atmospheres and emotions. How can we think of an emotional city? How the sensitive atmospheres and moods generating the condition of our experience of space? How do we feel, be affected and affect places and spaces in return? The social world and cities are no longer to be thought of through a functional order but rather an emotional one where the sensitive plays an essential role in the ways we feel and sense space. The emotions we experience are spatially situated, they influence and determine the formation of moods and atmospheres by configuring the lived experience. The city is experienced and perceived through the sensitivities which characterize urban forms and the particularities of the stimmung, that tone of the urban which is manifested in the spaces of reality. The urban narrative is then given by its sensitive qualities or ‘urban tonal atmospheres’. The questioning will focus on the epistemological point of view of a thought of atmospheres and the aesthetics of atmospheres; as well as on the phenomenological and methodological level, it will focus on the capture of urban imaginaries relating to the sensitive, the emotional, the affective and the atmospheric. The aim is to understand how emotions and atmospheres are concretised in urban spaces by investigating the plurality of their manifestations: Urban sensescape (visual, olfactory, auditory, tactile), sensory experience of walking and strolling, production of emotional cities, affective environment, urban tones, emotional architecture, impact of digital on urban sensory experience, affective dimension of ambiences, tonal qualities of spaces, perception and experience… So many perspectives likely to show and make attentive to the scope of ambiences and atmospheres, of the emotional, affective, sensory dimension of socio-urban facts.

Proposals for contributions in French and English in the form of an abstract of 1500 to 3000 characters (spaces included) maximum specifying the central question, the theoretical and/or methodological framework of the argument are expected by 1 June at the following address: revue.societes@univ-montp3.fr

Timetable:

• 3 June 2022 selection of Authors will be informed of the selection and of the editorial guidelines for the submission of their paper;
• 1 September 2022 receipt of papers for proofreading and double-blind evaluation for final publication in the 1st period of 2023.

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