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ABSTRACT
Drawing on the wide social scientific literature on emotions and affects, we highlight the value and potential contribution of the affect theory for understanding public engagement in environmental policy and planning. We suggest that such theorization complements political ontologies that envision concerned publics to arise as citizens are attached to objects and other beings in their everyday life. Focus on emotions and affects enables in-depth exploration of the corporeality of these attachments, increasing understanding about how affected publics get driven for action and how new sensibilities and horizons for action are created. Based on the discussion of affect theory and case examples, we argue that emotions and affects should be treated as crucial carriers of knowledge about transformation of political subjects and their concerns. They also direct analytic gaze beyond public participation procedures and encourage the development of novel, more inclusive settings for public engagement.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes on contributors
Dr Taru Peltola is a Senior Research Scientist at the Finnish Environment Institute and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Eastern Finland. Her research interests include knowledge practices and collaborative knowledge production in nature conservation. Her current research focuses on the transformative potential of citizen science initiatives.
Dr Maria Åkerman works as a Principal Scientist at the Foresight, Organisational Dynamics and Systemic Change research team at the VTT Technological Research Centre of Finland. She is also affiliated to University of Eastern Finland as Principal Investigator in natural resources policy. Her particular areas of expertise include sustainable governance of natural resources, knowledge–policy interfaces in environmental policy and methods of collaborative knowledge production.
Dr Jarkko Bamberg is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the School of Management, University of Tampere, Finland. His background is in environmental social science and human geography. He is currently studying habits and experiences of running in natural environments.
Dr Pauliina Lehtonen is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tampere, Finland. Her research focuses on various aspects of public participation and democracy. Her doctoral thesis discusses practices of civic action in the context of urban governance. Currently, she scrutinizes participatory budgeting in urban governance.
Dr Outi Ratamäki is an Adjunct Professor in human–animal studies as well as in environmental policy. She currently works as a Senior Lecturer in environmental law and policy at the Law School of University of Eastern Finland.