Non-representational theories and affect

This chapter provides a brief overview of some of the key features of non-representational theories&s; (NRTs) understandings of affect. Affect relates to but is not the same as a host of other words people might use relatively interchangeably in their everyday lives like sensation, feeling, or emotion. In an academic context, it is also challenging because affect has been understood and referred to in a range of senses across a range of academic traditions. A common reference point for NRTs when it comes to understanding affect has been the work of the philosopher Brian Massumi. Affects understood as intensive movements that take place in and between bodies often take place without the presence of conscious awareness or reflection upon them. NRTs’ interests in affect have the potential, in a range of senses, to animate the sorts of scenes that a variety of geographers are interested in.

Affect (linguistics) · Cognitive psychology · Cognitive science · Communication · Embodied and Extended Cognition · Neuroscience, Education and Cognitive Function · Psychology