Call for Papers for the 116 American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting “Anthropology Matters!” Nov 29- Dec 3, Washington DC

Affective Politics in Ethnographic Perspective: What Anthropology can offer the American Present

In contemporary American politics, affect trumps fact, reason, and rationality—a predicament that anthropologists are particularly well positioned to understand. How does ethnography on affective politics in diverse locations help us to understand this moment in the United States? This panel explores affective political regimes from a comparative ethnographic perspective. Topics may include: state spectacle, aesthetics and politics, language and oratory, semiotics, or other relevant themes. Individual papers do not need to address American politics explicitly, but should illustrate how affect and emotion can be infrastructural to political maneuvering and state power. Presenters should be prepared to offer a few points of convergence between their papers and the American present. Please send abstracts of 250 words or less to Adrienne Cohen (adrienne.cohen@yale.edu) by April 1, 2017.