From mass protests to online debates – emotions can influence public discourse in a variety of ways. This year, the “Affective Societies” annual conference asks how affect and emotion are mobilized, and how they in turn can mobilize others.

Featuring contributions from academics, activists, and artists, the conference aims to deepen the understanding of affect’s role in mobilizing social transformation across the political spectrum. The program comprises panel presentations, workshops, walking sessions, and other opportunities for interaction. It features contributions from Egyptian-Lebanese artist Lara Baladi, artist Cesy Leonard (founder of Radikale Töchter, a movement that promotes political activism through art), sociologist Billy Holzberg, and professor of feminist theory at the London School of Economics Clare Hemmings, who will be opening the conference with a keynote lecture. The closing lecture will be held by Carolyn Pedwell, professor in digital media at Lancaster University.

The conference is free of charge and open to the general public – anyone with an interest in academia, media, art, or activism is welcome to attend, though prior registration is required. Attendees are invited to join in discussions with experts on the role of affect and emotion as a driving force for protest and societal change.

About CRC 1171 “Affective Societies”

Based at Freie Universität Berlin, CRC 1171 “Affective Societies” investigates affects and emotions as essential factors of coexistence in twenty-first century societies. The goal of the research center is to establish a new understanding of societies that emphasizes the fundamental importance of affects and emotions in the mobile, interconnected, and mediatized worlds of the global present. At the CRC, scholars from nine disciplines across the social sciences, cultural studies, and humanities are researching these questions in twelve sub-projects.