On right-wing movements, spheres, and resonances: an interview with Ben Anderson and Rainer Mühlhoff

Abstract

This interview began in Berlin and continued virtually, as an active email exchange, between November 2017 and April 2018. The conversation was sparked by the recent and ongoing turn to the right in global politics. It departs from exploring 'affective modes of inquiry', which our interview partners have applied in their articles 'The Affective Styles of Donald Trump' (Anderson 2017) and 'Fatal Identification' (Mühlhoff 2017a). We then move on to discuss the events of Brexit in the UK and the return of the far right to German Parliament in 2017, as much as recent terms such as 'techlash' or 'fake news'. Against this background, we tackle the core concern of this special issue by asking for the locations of affect in the concepts of 'affective resonance' (Mühlhoff 2015, 2019b) and '(atmo)spheres' (Anderson 2009). Finally, we ponder the potential of 'affective counterpolitics' and the challenges this brings for an academic engagement with realpolitik.

What is ‘affective infrastructure’?

“…In a prior interview, Anderson further considers the role of social media platforms in precipitating affect. First, he suggests that ‘Every media infrastructure is simultaneously part of an affective infrastructure’ (Kemmer et al, 2019: 32) – so far this would be consistent with the set of literature outlined above. Continuing, however, Anderson clarifies ‘I use “infrastructure” as an open term for the channels and forms that mediation takes as affective life forms and deforms—that is, the material conditions for the circulation and distribution of intensities that then fold back into the infrastructure such that the material and affective become indivisible’.…”

“… 1. In the 2019 interview, Anderson seems to suggest that he no longer wishes to understand affect as a condition for certain sorts of political formations. This, it is argued, ‘risks reinscribing lines between cause and effect (with the affective or emotive no longer being that which should be explained, but now standing as that which does the explaining)’ (Kemmer et al, 2019: 25). One can surmise what some of these risks are precisely through the sorts of reductive analyses of crowd phenomenon that have re-emerged in recent years.…”

Affective Resonance and Durability in Political Organizing: The case of patients who hack

“…These experiential positions entail a particular affective disposition and ethical responsibility – to ourselves, our research participants and their community – which we tried to honour throughout this research project. While we mostly followed a relatively conventional social scientific inquiry mode, we were thus also aware of our own bodies and affective subjectivities as ‘seismographic instruments’ (Mühlhoff in Kemmer et al, 2019).…”

“…Importantly, in a resonant relationship each speaks 'with their own voice'; rather than consisting of 'echoes', resonance constitutes a reciprocal modulation of 'af←fect and e→motion' (see also Mühlhoff, 2015). Resonance signals the multiplicity of forces that create an irreducible relation between different bodies; being-in-resonance is experienced as being gripped in a joint dynamic (Anderson in Kemmer, Peters, Weber, Anderson, & Mühlhoff, 2019).…”

The Educational Implications of Populism, Emotions and Digital Hate Speech: A Dialogue with Scholars from Canada, Chile, Spain, the UK, and the US

“…Finally, the fourth refers to the dealignment caused by "the weakening bonds between the traditional mainstream parties and the people" (p. 15). Some scholars consider that socioeconomic factors are not enough to explain the rise of national populisms [16,17] and recognize emotions, such as fear or anger, as key elements in understanding this new populist wave [18][19][20].…”