Sara Ahmed is considered to be at the leading edge of critical theory
today. Her books engage with emotions, in the sense of affect theory,
and subjectivity, feminisms and its relation to social and institutional
aspects, for instance, and the making of social worlds entwined with
these ideas. Ahmed became famous with her book on the Cultural Politics of Emotion
(2004), but also with her decision to leave academia altogether in
2016. This course description cannot list the many directions that
Ahmed’s (partially controversial) writings explore, but in our seminar,
we will take a close look at her writings and thereby proceed from but
go beyond the notion of affect.
We are going to read (excerpts from) her works and critically discuss
them, exploring what they can mean for the study of literature and
culture and for our perception of the world. The themes we will thus
approach range from emotions over (strange) encounters and feminisms to
the critique of institutional structures and the reclaiming of the term
‘feminist killjoy’ as a marker of identity. We are thus going to explore
the thoughts and ideas Ahmed formulates and engage with writings on the
many different areas she targets. We will also see how Ahmed today
bridges the gap between feminist theory and everyday life and tries to
show how we can ‘do’ feminism in everyday life.
If you want to take this course, you should be prepared to read
(thoroughly and critically) and to actively engage in discussions,
because this is what this class is all about. We will mostly read
Ahmed's book and some postings from her blog and maybe throw in a bit of
literature and film here and there.
Familiarity with Ahmed's works is welcome, but absolutely not mandatory,
of course! Do not hesitate to take this course if you have – so far –
not focussed much on theory, just be aware of the fact that this course
requires you to read, think and speak.
- Dozent/in: Alessandra Boller