Panel on Affective Tonalities and Aesthetic Moods

In academia, what has come to be called “the affective turn” of the 1990s—surfacing in the wake of a “performative turn” that arguably originated in the 1940s and 1950s— was first used in the works of feminist scholars such as Patricia Clough and Lauren Berlant. Indeed, the affective turn has sparked generative debates, consonances, dissonances, and intense exchanges of views on a broad range of issues such as (post)critique, (non)intentionality, rational actor theory, and agency across disciplines in the humanities and social sciences.

Turning its attention to the affective-aesthetic concept of tone, this panel aims to investigate affective tonalities/moods/atmospheres that cannot be reduced to merely soliciting a reader’s response or a text’s internal affective models. While both can amplify and be amplified by feelings, as Sianne Ngai argues in Ugly Feelings, tone is also a foundational philosophical problem concerning the “objective/subjective” status of emotions. Reflecting on the New Critics’ de-emotionalization of “tone,” Ngai proposes a hyper-relational concept of feeling that reckons with attitude: a text’s affective stance, orientation, or disposition toward its audience and the world.

Engaging with scholars such as Ngai, Teresa Brennan, Sofia Samatar, and Kathleen Stewart, this panel invites participants to explore what has been termed as “the transmission/jump of affect,” contesting the “foundational fantasy” of self-contained, insular individuality/autonomy. Given the capacity of affects/emotions to surf, shift, and ricochet subversively within, through, and across sounds, texts, films, poems, and performances among other cultural forms and media, we welcome proposals that examine affectively charged points of contact in their alchemies of ecstasy, euphoria, shame, grief, melancholia and so forth as they shapeshift and (re)combine.

This panel invites proposals that engage with these themes in innovative and critical ways. We welcome broad and interdisciplinary proposals that engage with fields such as film studies, theatre and performance studies, gender studies, and affect studies, broadly conceived.

NeMLA's 56th Annual Convention

• March 6-9, 2025
• Philadelphia, PA
• Hotel & Convention Site: Philadelphia Marriott Downtown

Submission Guidelines:

• Abstract Length: 300 words
• Submission: To submit your proposal and learn more, please visit https://cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/21171
• Contact: For any questions, reach out to mohammad_mehdi_kimiagari@brown.edu / amanda_macedo_macedo@brown.edu