Abstract
Affect theory emerged in the late twentieth century as a theoretical trend in the study of "affective turn" in Western humanities. Affect theory, focused on the complex narratives of affect history, is an alternative paradigm to the one which is based on the rhetoric and semiotics in the 1990s. Research on affect theory began as Spinoza, and Deleuze developed it into an important concept of subjectivity generation. In this philosophical context, the theory of affect evolved along two theoretical paths. The ontological path from Spinoza to Deleuze continued with Masumi. The other path, which was the feminist path, was initiated by Sedgwick. Queer theory, and related feminist studies transformed with the introduction of the concept of affect. The change finds most obvious expressions in explorations of the transformative and utopian potential of desire and feeling. As knowledge/discourse, "affect" is ubiquitous in humanities and social sciences. With a strong claim to theorize the ontological commitment of affect, it is grasped as an effective theoretical tool for studying the political nature of affect, especially in the signifying practice of cultural politics.
First Page
203
Last Page
211
Recommended Citation
Liu, Qianyue. 2018. "The Genealogy of Affect Theory." Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art 38, (6): pp.203-211. https://tsla.researchcommons.org/journal/vol38/iss6/15
