Feeling safe while being surveilled: the spatial semiotics of affect at international airports

Abstract

Departing from Lefebvre's work on the social production of space, this paper explores the intersection between perceived and lived space from the perspective of spatial discourse analysis. Empirically, the paper studies how the spatiality of international airports performs affective discursive work and establishes prerequisites for air travelers' feelings of being "in control" and "excited" vs. feelings of being "controlled" and "surveilled". The concept of binding is applied in order to understand how affect is spatially afforded at Stockholm Arlanda Airport and Vienna International Airport. The analysis reveals that alternations between bound and unbound spaces construe the airports as distinctly ideological sites with different affective potentials. Accordingly, this article adds to the understanding of how airport atmospheres are construed by means of spatial resources such as the height, depth, and shape of walls and ceilings and by the transparency and opaqueness of the built material, as well as by more dynamic elements such as carpets, colors, signage, and retractable belt barriers.

Affective governance as multimodal discursive practice in Singapore’ COVID-19 vaccination video

“…Affect is of course not unique to political communication; it has been found as a key strategic tool within the commercial domain (e.g. Björkvall et al, 2020). Similarly, affective publics are formed on TikTok and other short-video platforms as grassroot creators leverage on visual and platform affordances to express humor, earnestness, and ambiguity towards topics such as climate change (Hautea et al, 2021).…”

Desiring the indigenous: affective commodification of the Sámi

“…"the actions and artefacts we use to communicate" (Van Leeuwen 2005, 3). Thus, the affordance-driven analysis undertaken here continues the ongoing investigation into the social semiotics of affect (Björkvall, Van Meerbergen, and Westberg 2020;Milani and Mortensen 2020;Milani and Mortensen 2020;Motschenbacher 2020;Richardson 2020;Thurlow 2020;Thurlow 2020;Zieba 2020).…”

“…Furthermore, the images in Figure 1 can also be considered regarding the spatial resources denoted, given the affective affordance of spatiality (Björkvall, Van Meerbergen, and Westberg 2020). The panoramic views of Sápmi convey the impression that nature is endless and eternal and that Sápmi appears to go on forever.…”

Affect as a multimodal practice

“…Thus, the proposed technique is a strategy for considering the social work of emotions and contemplating what subject formation does from a certain intersubjective horizon. A similar approach is adopted by Björkvall et al (2020), where the spatial semiotics of affect at international airports are interpretated from the perspective of “the ordinary traveler,” as well as in Westberg (2021), where I engage with the social force of neo-Nazi propaganda from the perspective of the ideal recruit.…”

“…Within the field of multimodal discourse studies, affect is currently gaining attention as a starting point for investigating how power and social forces are enacted through different modes of communication. In relation to diverse political and social phenomena such as homosocial belonging (Franzèn et al, 2020; Kiesling, 2018), neo-Nazi recruitment (Westberg, 2021), premium tourism and traveling (Björkvall et al, 2020; Thurlow, 2020), queer- and language activism (Årman, 2020; Milani, 2015) and the rise of right-wing populism (Breeze, 2019; Wodak, 2015), scholars point to the importance of acknowledging multimodal communication for its potential to accomplish affective meaning-making (cf. Milani and Køhler Mortensen, 2020; Wetherell, 2012).…”