IICOLA Virtual Conference

4th International Interdisciplinary Conference on Language Affairs

Emotion in Multidisciplinary Studies
Critical Affective Literacies
in/for Applied Linguistics
Anwar Ahmed, University of British Columbia
Brian Morgan, Glendon College/York University
 Explorations: CAL, Postmemory, Emotion, Duo/TrioEthnography

Anwaruddin, S. M. (2016). Why critical literacy should turn to ‘the affective turn’: Making a case
for critical affective literacy. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 37(3), 381-
396.

Ahmed, A., Morgan, B., & Maciel, R. F. (2021). Feeling our Way: A Trioethnography on Critical
Affective Literacy for Applied Linguistics. Calidoscópio, 19 (4), 538-552.

Ahmed, A., & Morgan, B. (2021). Postmemory and multilingual identities in English Language
Teaching: A duoethnography. Language Learning Journal, 49 (4), 483-498.

Morgan, B., Rocha, C., & Maciel, R. F. (2021). Literacies in Times of Crisis:
A Trioethnography on Affective and Transgressive Practices. Brazilian Journal of Applied
Linguistics, 21 (2), 333-369.
 Multidisciplinary Influences in/for CAL

Affect/Emotion Studies: Massumi, Seigworth & Gregg, Ahmed, Berlant

Philosophy: Spinoza (affectus), Bakhtin (addressivity, heteroglossia)

Semiotics/Multimodality: Peirce (indexicality), Kramsch (symbolic

competence)

Post/Memory Studies: Hirsch, Hacking, Ricoeur.

Applied Linguistics/EAP: Benesch, Prior, Pavlenko, Swain

Citizenship/Civics Education: Steudeman (Rhetorical exceptionalism)

Qualitative Research in Education: Duoethnography (Norris & Sawyer)

 Key Concepts from Ahmed & Morgan (2021)
Affect/Emotion in ELT/LTE
● Attention to emotions and an ‘affective turn’ in language education (Benesch 2012;
Kramsch 2006): ‘No corner of human activity is free from affect’ (Prior, 2019: 518) and
the study of language must involve the study of affect because it is through language that
we make emotions relevant and meaningful.

● Competing definitions: affect as visceral intensity (non-representational, non-discursive)

versus emotion as sociolinguistically qualified and contained (Massumi, 2002; Seigworth
& Gregg, 2010)

● Sara Ahmed (2004): neither inside-out nor outside-in (mutuality)

 Key Concepts from Ahmed & Morgan (2021)
Critical Affective Literacies (Anwaruddin, 2016)

1. examining why we feel what we feel,

2. striving to enter a relation of affective equivalence,

3. interrogating the production and circulation of objects of emotion in

everyday politics,

4. focusing on the performativity of emotions to achieve social justice.

Brian’s Story: Dealing with Viewpoint (ENSL
3800)
Culture Jamming• Assignment
Analysis of a “culture jamming” text
(e.g., Adbusters’ spoof ad; protest
poster)
• Readings: Grammar of Visual Design
(Kress & van Leeuwen in Corbett,
2003); Culture Jam (Lasn, 1999)
• Task Description: Select a spoof ad or
culture jamming image for analysis.
How does it work as a parody or copy
of the original ad or image? In your
opinion, how effective is it in terms
of “meme warfare” (Lasn). How does
it use image and texts to “jam” our
consumer culture and/or act on our
emotions and (post) memories?
Brian’s Story: ML landscapes, digraphia, (post)memory,
devotional literacies, diasporic identities, affect/emotion
● Hebrew letter ‫ ש‬for initial /ʃ / in shin
or /s/ in sin, substitutes for ‘W’;
Hebrew ‫ ם‬/mem/ stylistically suggests
the ‘D’
● Semiotics of ML (Ivković, 2015): 1st
order/denotation - Bagel World; 2nd
order/indexicality - “authentic” bagels;
3rd order: postmemory affect/emotion -
a minority Jewish diasporic
community
● Faith, phonics & identity: devotional
literacies for religious minority
communities; rote learning of Torah in
Regina (Rosowsky, 2013)
 Duoethnography as Pedagogy
● I turned to duoethnography for its polyvocal and dialogic character.
● I wanted to explore how duoethnography could be pedagogically
useful to address a problem of traditional argumentative writing, i.e.,
teaching students how to support their prior beliefs and refute
anticipatory counter-arguments, instead of understanding the
complexities of a given topic and challenging others’ as well as their
own ideas and beliefs (Southworth, 2020).
● Challenging self-beliefs is necessary for democratic deliberation in a
world divided by ideological lines.
Limits of the Knowing Subject, and Duoethnography as Methodology

● Duoethnography is helpful to
promote an affective approach
to knowledge production.
● It challenges the neoliberal
notion of an autonomous
subject, capable of
managing/regulating emotions.
● Duoethnography promotes a
dialogical and distributive
notion of emotions.
 Affect/Emotion: Final Thoughts & Cautions

Discussion points
• Too many “turns”? (i.e. insights and blind spots of an
affective/emotion turn)
• Not just positive emotions
• A confessional obligation, neoliberal subjectification, cruel
optimism (Berlant), normalizing emotion rules/emotion
labour in ELT/LTE

Terima kasih!
Anwar & Brian