Affect and Feeling

A new 'turn' to affect is seen by many as heralding a paradigm shift across the humanities and cultural theory - in the same kind of way as the earlier turn to language and discourse. Indeed, many earlier proponents of more discursive approaches to subjectivity are now embracing affect as the way out of its apparent social, linguistic and discourse determinism. Affect provides a conceptual language for addressing embodied subjectivity, allowing a move away from a focus solely on discourse and language. There is an opportunity here for critical psychology to engage constructively with colleagues in other disciplines - who, paradoxically, are sometimes taking up resources that critical psychologists have previously rejected.This special issue aims to provide the beginnings of a dialogue within and between mainstream and critical psychology, and with those working across the humanities who are interested in the complex relationships between affect, subjectivity and relationality - and in bringing the body back into theory.