Language, Emotion, and the Politics of Vulnerability

Abstract

Previous research on language and emotion in anthropology has demonstrated that rather than being a private, subjective, and prediscursive experience belonging to individuals, emotion is an intersubjective, emergent process that is not only everywhere in language but also everywhere language is. In this review, I discuss how recent research in linguistic anthropology and related fields has continued to build on such insights in investigations of the flow of affect across bodies, the ways in which politically situated ideologies of language and emotion function at various institutional scales, and the role of language and emotion in the enactment of agency. Overall, my discussion is framed in a consideration of how this body of work contributes both theoretically and methodologically to understanding the role that language and emotion play in mediating the dynamic relationship between vulnerability and political agency. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Anthropology, Volume 49 is October 21, 2020. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

A Probe Into the Psychological Mechanism of Generation Z College Students Using Network Buzzwords in the Internet Era

“…The emotions contained in online buzzwords of today can be roughly divided into positive emotions and negative emotions. Positive emotions mainly include praise, confidence, love, and expectation; while negative emotions mainly contain anger, surprise, ridicule, doubt, sadness, and disappointment ( Pritzker, 2020 ).…”

“Let’s Go, Baby Forklift!”: Fandom Governance and the Political Power of Cuteness in China

“…But I just want to contribute however I can.” This comment reveals a key aspect of the devotion meng engenders: fans recognize the effort that an idol exerts, and reciprocate with strenuous displays of devotion—these acts are meaningful because, not in spite, of their insignificance. In this sense, vulnerability becomes the basis for agency (Pritzker, 2020), realized through idols’ devotion to duty, and fans’ devotion to idols. Thus, fan art like these banners or videos served not only to generate emotional involvement with Baby Forklift and other idolized vehicles, but also to enact devotion as an ethical ideal and moral virtue.…”

“…The collective efforts of an adoring public and the guiding hand of Chinese state social media had transformed it into a much more powerful kind of symbolic vehicle: a celebrity idol. As an idol, it could command devotion not through strength alone, but also through vulnerability (Pritzker, 2020)—a quality that made it cute. How did a burly machine become cute and why did cuteness make it such a potent national symbol during a moment of crisis?…”

Essential Work in the U.S. during COVID-19: Navigating Vulnerability–Sustainability Tensions

“…Incidentally, this affective turn, known as "bounded emotionality", has also been approached as an "alternative mode of organizing in which nurturance, caring, community, supportiveness, and interrelatedness are fused in individual responsibility to shape organizational experiences" [39] (p. 474). Complementing this paradigm, some scholars [40][41][42] have argued for affect to be placed at the center of the relationship between vulnerability and political agency. In this way, vulnerability, understood as "the condition of being affected" [40] (p. 6), is a strong entry point for an investigation of emotion work during a pandemic, and the subsequent "relationally grounded possibility for political action" [41] (p. 242).…”

“…Complementing this paradigm, some scholars [40][41][42] have argued for affect to be placed at the center of the relationship between vulnerability and political agency. In this way, vulnerability, understood as "the condition of being affected" [40] (p. 6), is a strong entry point for an investigation of emotion work during a pandemic, and the subsequent "relationally grounded possibility for political action" [41] (p. 242).…”