A hot afternoon

Abstract

It has become rather commonplace for critics of affect and non-representational theories to ask whether such approaches are capable of supporting 'new models of progressive politics' (Barnett, 2008: 198). Brian Massumi (2015: ix) has stressed that affect is 'proto-political', being concerned with 'the first stirrings of the political, flush with the felt intensities of life', and the trick here is to expand conceptions of 'the political' to take account of transversal 'molecular' and 'micro' political movements, actions and events, as well as perceptible 'molar' or 'macro' political relations established around material and social markers of difference such as race and gender (Bissell, 2016; Jellis and Gerlach, 2017). In attending to the partial, relational flagging of nations-and the welling-up of feelings, atmospheres and collective affiliations aligned with the nation-I would emphasise that molecular and micro political forces, movements and affects can bring about more fundamental molar shifts in atmospheres, moods, materialities and habits (see Ahmed, 2004; Closs Stephens, 2016; Closs Stephens et al., 2017). In contrast to many early works on the politics of affect which focussed largely on the engineering of affects by powerful (state) actors and agencies for manipulative ends (Barnett, 2008), it is also important to acknowledge the ways in which affects are engineered with the intention of creating more hopeful, joyful and 'happy atmospheres' (Closs Stephens, 2016: 181). Progressive futures and inclusive atmospheres can emerge from molecular or micro-political actions, events and movements associated with a range of bodies held in tension, but it is not just the molar or macro-political potential of affect theories which is questioned by some critics. References to 'the body' in Spinozan and Deleuzian affect theory have, of course, been criticised for tracing a rather abstract, blank, universal, unmarked and 'pre-figured' body (see Tolia-Kelly, 2006, and section 'Affective nationalisms and race' in this issue). This is, of course, the point, for although these (morethan-human) bodies are inevitably and incessantly figured, fleshed out, essentialised and differentiated in and through innumerable practices, many affect theorists do not want to mark or figure such bodies a priori using essential pre-established categories of difference. Speaking of pre-figured bodies in the abstract does not universalise a particular body, subject or experience (however marked); rather, it insists that such markings are inscribed and differences formed in the unfolding of (national) events, emerging from specific affective ties and tensions between bodies, even if that unfolding generates familiar refrains and repetitious exclusionary practices which must be highlighted and ultimately challenged and undermined. With the de-coupling of national communities from an essential or fixed relationship with territories in many theories of nations and nationalism-including those focussing on the performance of national identity, the s...

Trace to the Source: Self‐Tuning of MOF Photocatalysts

“…Almost 80% of the global energy supply currently depends on the combustion of fossil fuels, which brings a series of severe and intractable energy and environmental crises. [ 1,2 ] In this regard, abundant, non‐polluting, and sustainable solar energy is undoubtedly the most promising alternative energy from the perspective of energy, environment, cost, security, and development. Since 1972s, when Fujishima et al.…”

“…Figure 43. a) Functionalized terephthalic acid linker molecules (H 2 BDC-X, up) and schematic diagram of the photogenerated electron and hole transfer in UiO-66, UiO-66-NH 2 , and UiO-66-(SH) 2 (down); b) XRD patterns of UiO-66-X and the simulated single crystal; c) UV-vis DRS spectra of UiO-66-X and plots of (αhv)2 versus energy (hv) of UiO-66-X in the inset (X = H, NH 2 , Br, (OH) 2 , (SH) 2 ); d) photocurrent spectra of UiO-66, UiO-66-NH 2 , and UiO-66-(SH) 2 , and their samples after RhB adsorption; e) Mott-Schottky plot of UiO-66-X (X = H, NH 2 , Br, (OH) 2 , (SH) 2 ) in 0.2 m Na 2 SO 4 aqueous solution; f) photocatalytic degradation of RhB in the presence and absence (blank) of catalysts under visible light irradiation (400-780 nm). (a-f) Adapted with permission [423].…”