The UPEI Philosophy Reading Group will meet on Sunday, August 3, from 6:00 to 7:00 pm at a downtown location still to be determined.

All are welcome.

During this gathering, we will discuss Chapter 3: "The Affective Politics of Fear," pp. 62-80, from Sara Ahmed’s The Cultural Politics of Emotion.

The following passages speak to the spirit of the reading:

"I can no longer sit back and allow communist infiltration, communist indoctrination, communist subversion, and the international communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids!" - Gen. Ripper, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Emotions work to define who we are as well as shape what we do and this is no more powerfully at play than in the world of politics. Ahmed considers how emotions keep us invested in relationships of power, and also shows how this use of emotion could be crucial to areas such as feminist and queer politics.

Debates on international terrorism, asylum and migration, as well as reconciliation and reparation, are explored through topical case studies. In this book the difficult issues are confronted head on.

The Cultural Politics of Emotion is in dialogue with recent literature on emotions within gender studies, cultural studies, sociology, psychology and philosophy. Throughout the book, Ahmed develops a theory of how emotions work, and the effects they have on our day-to-day lives.

If you would like to attend, please reach out to Dr. Max Schaefer at mschaefer@upei.ca for more information.