Emotions from and beyond the classroom. An experiment in teaching and sharing emotional methodologies in a geography course

ABSTRACT

This paper is based on an experiment conducted in 2019 at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, as part of a post-graduate research course, that aimed to reflect on the methodologies used by geographers when (re)searching (for) emotions. This methodological question is crucial since it is partly because of the difficulty of finding relevant tools to study emotions that geographers – especially in France – have tended to neglect them, both in their research and their teaching activities. To address this, a series of workshops were organized in which geographers and artists were invited to present, test and discuss with participants a methodology they had conceived to apprehend, explore or transcribe emotions. Various artistic media (film, poetry, literature, dance, theatre) were used to explore participants’ emotional relations to space. These arts-based research practice workshops were therefore not only a means of teaching about emotions but also a place and a time during which the participants collectively developed spatial practices and knowledge about emotions. By critically analysing this experiment, we will question both its potentialities and its limits in building shared geographical understanding on emotions. In so doing, we seek to show that emotions are a legitimate source of knowledge and teaching in geography.

KEYWORDS:

• Emotions
• workshops
• arts-based research practice
• ethics
• shared knowledge

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all the students, artists and researchers who have participated so generously in the “Geography of Emotions” workshops in 2019, namely: Fabienne Cavaillé, Félix Cardoso, Joanne Clavel, Clément Colin, Mathilde Delahaye, Ema Drouin, Laurent Franchi, Angelina Jean, Lise Landrin Paula Ortiz, Thomas Quillerier, Thierry Rocco and pupils from Lycée Lamartine, Julie Sermon, Mathieu Simonet, Lola Tauzy, Anaëlle Tribout Dubois, Justine Vignères, Shengxi Zeng. We also thank the École Normale Supérieure, and the Department of Geography, for the support given to the organization of this experience.

Notes

1. http://www.geographie.ens.fr/-geographie-des-emotions-.html.

2. To obtain the ENS diploma, students must validate ECTS (through written reports, oral presentations, participation, etc.) but do not necessarily receive grades.