Understanding power in development studies through emotion and affect: promising lines of enquiry

In this volume, the contributors take affect and emotions as a means to cast ‘development’ in fresh light. Recognising that the affective dimensions of life are a critical part of social, political and economic organisation, each contribution draws upon theories of affect and emotion to enrich understandings of power within development studies. This introductory essay critically reflects on dominant understandings of power in the field, outlining how these can be augmented, or rethought, through attention to affect and emotions. It proposes new lines of enquiry that bring a necessary dynamism to the analysis of power in three ways, revealing how emotion and affect: (a) sustain or potentially challenge broader social and economic conditions; (b) influence processes of self-formation; and (c) reinforce or potentially disrupt social hierarchies. We aim to advance a research agenda that draws upon affect theory to enhance understandings of development with a focus on power’s sedimentation and disruption.