Media and Communication Open Access Journal | ISSN: 2183-2439 Volume 6, Issue 3 (2018) TheThe TurnTurn toto AffectAffect andand EmotionEmotion inin MediaMedia StudiesStudies Editors Margreth Lünenborg and Tanja Maier Media and Communication, 2018, Volume 6, Issue 3 The Turn to Affect and Emotion in Media Studies Published by Cogitatio Press Rua Fialho de Almeida 14, 2º Esq., 1070-129 Lisbon Portugal Academic Editors Margreth Lünenborg and Tanja Maier, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany Editors-in-Chief Epp Lauk, University of Jyväskylä, Finland Raul Reis, Emerson College, USA Available online at: www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication This issue is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY). Articles may be reproduced provided that credit is given to the original and Media and Communication is acknowledged as the original venue of publication. Table of Contents The Turn to Affect and Emotion in Media Studies Margreth Lünenborg and Tanja Maier 1–4 Affect in Media and Communication Studies: Potentials and Assemblages Brigitte Hipfl 5–14 Affect Disposition(ing): A Genealogical Approach to the Organization and Regulation of Emotions Bernd Bösel 15–21 Towards a Psychoanalytic Concept of Affective-Digital Labour Jacob Johanssen 22–29 Negotiating Belonging as Cultural Proximity in the Process of Adapting Global Reality TV Formats Laura Sūna 30–39 How Culture Influences Emotion Display in Transnational Television Formats: The Case of The Voice of China Yuanchen Zhang 40–47 Leak Early, Leak (More Than) Often: Outlining the Affective Politics of Data Leaks in Network Ecologies Alberto Micali 48–59 Media and Communication (ISSN: 2183–2439) 2018, Volume 6, Issue 3, Pages 1–4 DOI: 10.17645/mac.v6i3.1732 Editorial The Turn to Affect and Emotion in Media Studies Margreth Lünenborg * and Tanja Maier Institute for Media and Communication Studies, Freie Universität Berlin, 14159 Berlin, Germany; E-Mails: [email protected] (M.L), [email protected] (T.M.) * Corresponding author Submitted: 3 September 2017 | Published: 11 September 2018 Abstract This editorial delivers an introduction to the thematic Media and Communication issue on “The Turn to Affect and Emo- tion in Media Studies”. The social and cultural formation of affect and emotion has been of central interest to social science-based emotion research as well as to affect studies, which are mainly grounded in cultural studies. Media and communication scholars, in turn, have especially focused on how emotion and affect are produced by media, the way they are communicated through media, and the forms of emotion audiences develop during the use of media. Distin- guishing theoretical lines of emotion theory in social sciences and diverse traditions of affect theory, we reflect on the need to engage more deeply with affect and emotion as driving forces in contemporary media and society. This thematic issue aims to add to ongoing affect studies research and to existing emotion research within media studies. A special emphasis will be placed on exploring structures of difference and power produced in and by media in relation to affect and emotion. Keywords affect; body emotion; communication; media studies; power Issue This editorial is part of the issue “The Turn to Affect and Emotion in Media Studies”, edited by Margreth Lünenborg and Tanja Maier (Free University Berlin, Germany). © 2018 by the authors; licensee Cogitatio (Lisbon, Portugal). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribu- tion 4.0 International License (CC BY). 1. Theoretical Background(s) we aim to reflect on the intensified preoccupation with affect and emotion and on new approaches in media re- The social and cultural formation of affect and emo- search. Media can be understood as “affect generators” tion has been of central interest to social science-based (Reckwitz, 2017) and as institutions establishing “feeling emotion research as well as to affect studies, which are rules” (Hochschild, 1979). Current phenomena like hate mainly grounded in cultural studies. The study of emo- speech and “shitstorms” via social media are to be un- tion and affect has received increasing attention since derstood as explicit public articulations of emotions; at the shift to affect studies in the 1990s focusing bodies the same time, they produce affective dynamics, which and materiality again. Under the umbrella of affect the- can be described as contagious and viral. Obviously, emo- ory (Gregg & Seigworth, 2010), an ensemble of theoret- tions are used in public communication to gain attention, ical approaches has emerged in diverse areas, provid- be it in journalism, advertising, or public diplomacy. Dig- ing new insights into the shaping of social relationships ital communication, in its temporal dynamics and inten- and inequalities. The often-used term “affective turn” sities, can especially be understood with regard to “af- (Clough & Halley, 2007) may suggest coherent under- fective flows” (Wetherell, 2012; adapted to social media standing where, in reality, diverse and thoroughly differ- analysis most recently by Sampson, Maddison, & Ellis, ent conceptions and approaches exist. In examining the 2018). This thematic issue, beyond offering mere descrip- notion of a “turn to affect and emotion in media studies”, tions of these phenomena, is concerned with advancing Media and Communication, 2018, Volume 6, Issue 3, Pages 1–4 1 the debate on the potentials of different theoretical ap- ies, which examines the globalized visual language of af- proaches to analyze affect and emotion as driving forces fect (e.g., Angel & Gibbs, 2006). This approach considers in contemporary societies and media cultures. affect and media on a biological as well as socio-cultural There are no universally shared definitions of the level, often questioning the relationship between culture terms “affect” and “emotion” in the fields of social and and nature. cultural research. Affect is often described as something In contrast, critical approaches through the lens of that hits and captures us, that moves us and connects us cultural (media) studies are based on a fundamentally with other bodies (e.g., Clough, 2010). While affect and socially and culturally grounded understanding of affect emotion are often considered synonymous, there have and emotion (for an overview, see Harding & Pribram, been theoretical efforts to distinguish between them. In 2009). The current debates in affect studies are shaped such frameworks, affect is described as intensity (Mas- by Williams’ “structures of feelings” (1977/2015) con- sumi, 2002) or a dynamic, relational occurrence through cept, which describes the relationship of institutional or- which bodies are connected to each other (e.g., Röttger- der as structural limitation with emergent forms of social Rössler & Slaby, 2018), while emotion is understood as and cultural interaction as lived practice. Subsequently, a complex, socially formed interplay of thoughts and other studies have investigated specific phenomena, like feelings, as outlined over 30 years ago by Hochschild reality TV, as “technology of intimacy” (Kavka, 2008). This (1983). Critics argue that distinctions between affect conceptual approach pursues an understanding of affect and emotion are untenable. At any rate, these ques- that seeks to capture circulation, relation and transfor- tions and disagreements, as well as the conceptual open- mation between spectators, media texts and media pro- ness and complexity of affect, pose theoretical, analyti- duction. These concepts are closely connected to more cal and methodological challenges to the studies of me- philosophical works on affect. dia and communication. Therefore, theoretical develop- Philosophical approaches have focused on affect as ment, methodological designs and definitions of terms intensity and process (e.g., Seigworth & Gregg, 2010). will have to be closely interlinked to increase a consistent The work of philosophers Gilles Deleuze (reflecting on body of knowledge. Baruch Spinoza) and Brian Massumi seem to be at the Before introducing contributions to this thematic is- forefront of efforts defining the term. This perspective on sue, we will give a brief overview of the most relevant affect often focuses on (media) technologies (e.g., Coole theoretical approaches to affect and emotion research & Frost, 2010) as significant elements of contemporary in media and communication studies. We have classified human and non-human relationship, and as forms of these theoretical frameworks into distinct categories. new materialism (e.g., Angerer, 2017). Such approaches Due to the field’s complexity and tremendous productiv- have become popular in philosophical and ontological re- ity within recent years, this cannot be comprehensive at search on technology and (digital) media studies regard- all, but the approaches we introduce will be discussed in ing the independence and unavailability of affect. each of this issue’s articles. As social theories, all these Partly following from that, social-relational ap- approaches go far beyond a mere understanding of me- proaches focus on situationally bound, relationally af- dia and communication, exploring the ways affect and fective occurrences in contemporary societies. Such emotion contribute to social formations, sense of belong- approaches are represented by the interdisciplinary ing and constitution of identities. “Affective Societies” Collaborative Research Center Psychoanalytical approaches