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For a geographical and critical approach to everyday emotions

Call for contributions for issue of the journal L'Espace Politique

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Haga clic aquí para leer la versión en español

Call in two steps

  • Deadline for abstracts: Saturday, January 31, 2026 included.

  • Deadline for submission of articles: Wednesday septembre 30, 2026 included.

Coordination

Argumentary

Over the last decade, emotions have emerged as a relevant category of analysis in geography, evolving from a marginal subject to an essential field for understanding social and political phenomena linked to places and territories. While research initially focused on legitimising this object – be it in the English-speaking world (Davidson, Bondi and Smith, 2005; Smith et al., 2009), the Spanish-speaking world (Lindón, 2009; Aguilar and Soto, 2013) and the French-speaking world (Racine and Bochet, 2002; Feildel, 2016; Guinard and Tratnjek, 2016; Colin et al, 2019) –, it is now widely recognised that the production of spaces and spatialities cannot be fully understood without taking into account their emotional dimension, both individual and collective. This major shift in the production of geographical knowledge can be observed in many contexts (Campos, Silva and Gaete, 2017; Matteis, 2020; Barclay and Riddle, 2021; Chevalier and Sibertin-Blanc, 2021; Colin, Pinto Baleisan and Nuñez Carrasco, 2023), and highlights the interdependence between affects, spaces and social, cultural and political dynamics. However, although the geographical approach to emotions continues to develop, much of the research remains focused on the most tangible, visible and event-based manifestations of emotions, which most often occur in public spaces. Less studied are the everyday expressions of emotions: those that weave spatial experiences and relationships with the world on a day-to-day basis, and which can be affected by emotions produced and disseminated on other spatial and temporal scales. This call for papers is based on the conviction that it is now necessary to get a better grasp of the ways in which contemporary spaces are inhabited – in their socio-spatial dynamics, tensions and conflicts – by approaching emotions in their everydayness and ordinarity (Robinson, 2006).

The everyday refers to all the activities and practices that are repeated day after day. It refers to those routine forms of social life which, by their very repetition, tend to become commonplace and ordinary. But this trivialisation, or even “ordinarisation”, tends to mask the structures, norms and power relations that actually govern everyday social practices, and the way in which they are experienced. Consequently, taking an interest in the lived dimension of everyday life means looking at the way in which individuals and groups think about and give meaning to these routines, rhythms and repetitions. This means paying attention to the set of gestures, interactions, tactics and sensitive experiences through which these actors interpret, invest or signify their routines. As Giannini (1987) points out, far from being a mere mechanical repetition, everyday life is also a space for the construction of commonality and reflection. It is a space for subjectivation and the invention of a relationship with the world. In the same vein, De Certeau and Mayol (1980) show that everyday life is the place where tactics and practices for (re)appropriating and (re)inventing the self and the collective are deployed. Le Breton (1998) even goes so far as to add that the ordinary becomes everyday when we pay attention to it, when it emerges into our consciousness and becomes charged with meaning. We need to question the processes that lead to the normalisation or even invisibilisation of everyday emotions (trivialisation of injustice, fear, etc.) or, on the contrary, to making them tangible and sensitive. Indeed, it is when individuals and groups pay attention to these emotions, which are integrated into the flow of everyday life, that they can emerge into consciousness, be questioned, shared or reappropriated. This process helps to weave an affective landscape specific to spatial experiences: a register of sensitivity that informs the way in which individuals and groups experience, perceive and transform spaces in relation to the imaginaries and representations shared and imposed in society. Approaching emotions in this way allows us to go beyond the analysis of spectacular events to examine the affective dynamics that run through and reconfigure everyday spatialities. This opens the way to a geography that is attentive to the diffuse and persistent emotions that, although often imperceptible and invisible, play an active part in shaping the social, cultural and political world.

This call therefore raises two main challenges. The first, of a theoretical nature, concerns the study of everyday emotions in geography, and their links with the production of space as a social, cultural and political process. The aim is to shed light on the relationships between emotions, social structures and practices in everyday space, and the way in which these are embodied in space and play an active part in the production of spaces, particularly in regard to the construction of territorial belonging and place identity. The second challenge is methodological; it concerns the tools and know-how needed to address emotions in their everyday expressions. This means mobilising methods that are suited to the study of lived space, which is often intimate and difficult both to express and to share. This situation invites us to rethink and enrich the methods used in geography, to include approaches that are more sensitive to emotional and no less political realities.

We therefore invite contributions that explore emotions in their everyday dimension, in both public and private spaces, tangible and digital, while reflecting on the methods and theories that make it possible to grasp these dimensions in contemporary geography. The expected contributions may be framed around three main directions.

Emotional structures and daily life

This first entry brings together works that approach emotions as social, cultural and political phenomena. Emotions not only shape our perceptions (Nussbaum, 1996) and thoughts (Thrift, 2004) of socio-material realities; they are also rooted in historical contexts, as well as social and political structures (Lordon, 2015) that influence our experiences (Le Breton, 1998). Although felt individually, emotions do not emerge ex-nihilo; they are shaped by social, cultural and political models of interpretation. A relationship is therefore established between emotions, the social and the political.

Williams (1977) uses the term “structures of feeling” to analyse the way in which shared emotions, attitudes and values not only reflect but also support the dominant structural dynamics. Reddy (2001) explores “emotional regimes”, the set of emotional norms and rules that establish and sustain political regimes. These structures serve as a framework to guide our individual and collective actions. More recently, Anderson (2016) explores the way in which “neoliberal affects” influence and direct our everyday behaviour and subjectivities. Far from being merely subjective and individual, emotions are therefore also collective and political; they tell us something about the structures that contribute to the sharing of the sensible and places (Rancière, 2000). What structural effects enable us to understand and analyse everyday emotions? What do everyday emotions tell us about contemporary developments in our societies? This thematic issue aims to bring together contributions that explore the spatial dimensions of the relationships between individual emotions, emotional structures and actions in the everyday space of individuals and groups.

Situated emotions and the production of spaces

This second entry looks at everyday emotions as a situated phenomenon, intrinsically linked to the places and times in which they unfold. Emotions arise from the interaction between individuals and their environment, and are shaped by spatial, social, economic and political configurations and networks of interdependence (Kemper, 1978, 1990; Hochschild, 1979, 1983). However, although emotional norms guide behaviour, places also influence the way we feel. We affect and are affected by our environment, whether near or far (Favret-Saada, 1990; Davidson, Bondi and Smith, 2007; Smith et al., 2009). So there are differences between the shared emotional norms depending on the type of space we inhabit (urban or rural, flat or house, etc.). In addition to these social distinctions, there is a fundamental territorial dimension to emotional phenomena. Contexts such as the COVID-19 pandemic, growing eco-anxiety about global change and the rise of populism all influence our relationship with space. How do certain contexts produce specific emotions? And conversely, how do certain emotions generate particular spaces? As a complement to the first entry, which explores the influence of emotional structures and regimes (and the political decisions that underpin them) in the production of space, this second entry invites us to reflect on the way in which spaces and places are constructed on the basis of everyday experience.

Emotions, practices and everyday injustices

This third entry explores the way in which the study of emotions and everyday practices can shed light on inequalities and injustices that are often invisible in dominant discourses on space. In particular, it proposes to analyse, from the perspective of everyday emotions, the struggles experienced by minorities (gender, class, etc.) in space (Pérez Sanz and Gregorio Gil, 2020). In a context marked by widespread precarity and inequality, injustices tend to become normalised, becoming not just ordinary but invisible. This invisibility makes identifying, analysing and dealing with them increasingly complex. The aim of this entry is to complement and enrich work on social movements and collective mobilisations that are visible in the public arena (whether expressed through discourse or political practice), by highlighting everyday experiences of injustice and the actions that result from them, in both the public and private spheres. Power dynamics are not confined to the public sphere, but also infiltrate the private sphere, influencing personal and intimate experiences and leading to various forms of (in)action in relation to politics. This section therefore seeks to question the daily frustrations, resignation and lack of participation, as well as the emancipatory practices (Carriou, Guinard and Olivera, 2023) that are invented on a daily basis in response to these processes of discrimination and invisibilisation, while examining how these practices and emotions reconfigure spaces. In addition to collective mobilisation, we will be looking at everyday emotional resistance.

Because the methodological issue cuts across all these reflections, we invite authors to pay particular attention to the way in which they produce and share knowledge about and with these everyday emotions. To do this, authors can take advantage of all the formats and sections offered by the journal L'espace politique: research, experiments or reviews.

To encourage decompartmentalisation by regional area, articles in French, English and Spanish are welcome. We look forward to receiving your proposals for contributions that question these entries and contribute to a better understanding of everyday emotions in contemporary geography, particularly from a critical perspective.

Provisional timetable:

  • Publication date: September 2025

  • Call for abstracts closes: 31 January 2026

  • Return to authors: mid-March 2026

  • Closing date for submissions: 30 September 2026

  • Publication: during January 2028

Recommendations, submission procedure and contacts

Articles should not exceed 60,000 characters (not including spaces) and should respect the publication standards of L'Espace Politique [Online http://espacepolitique.revues.org/1302].

Initially, proposals for articles of 4000 characters (maximum) should be sent in French or English to the editors of the special issue by 31 January: clement.colin@pucv.cl, pauline.guinard@ens.fr

The proposal must contain the following elements: title, 5 key-words, the general thesis, a problem statement, the analytical approach and methods used, and a few results.

Bibliographie

Aguilar M., A. & Soto, P. (Eds). (2013). Cuerpos, espacios y emociones: aproximaciones desde las ciencias sociales. México: M-A Porrúa.

Anderson, B. (2016). Neoliberal affects. Progress in Human Geography, 40(6), 734-753.

Barclay, K. and Riddle, J. (2021) Urban Emotions and the Making of the City: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. New York, NY: Routledge.

Carriou, C., Guinard, P. and Olivera, M. (2023) Pratiques d'émancipation urbaine [online]. Éditions Le Manuscrit. URL: https://hal.science/hal-04165140

Célérier, F. (2014) 'Plaisirs urbains / Edito' [online], Urbanités, (3). URL: http://www.revue-urbanites.fr/3-avril-2014-plaisirs-urbains-edito/

Chevalier, D. and Sibertin-Blanc, M. (2021) 'Géographies de la colère. Ronds-points et prés carrés' [online], Géographie et Cultures, (114). URL : https://www.decitre.fr/revues/geographie-et-cultures-n-114-geographies-de-la-colere-9782343221465.html

Campos, L., Silva, R. & Gaete, M. (2017). El rol de las emociones y los afectos en la producción del hábitat y el territorio. Revista INVI 32(91): 9-21.

Colin C., Gervais-Lambony P., Hirai S., & Pinto C. (2019). Nostalgias in the contemporary city: avenues for research. Cybergeo 904, https://doi.org/10.4000/cybergeo.32469

Colin, C., Pinto Baleisan, C., & Núñez Carrasco, L. (2023). La ciudad neoliberal y sus pasados presentes: Un diálogo Sur-Sur. Revista INVI, 38(108), pp. 1-14.

Davidson J., Bondi L. y Smith M. (Eds.). (2005). Emotional geographies. Aldershot: Ashgate.

De Certeau, M. & Mayol, P. (Eds.). (1980). L'invention du quotidien. 1. Arts de faire. Paris: Union Générale d'éditions.

Favret-Saada, J. (1990) 'Être affecté', Gradhiva : revue d'histoire et d'archives de l'anthropologie, 8(1), 3-9Persée - Portail des revues scientifiques en SHS.

Feildel, B. (2016) 'Emotion is what connects us. Elements for a relational approach to affective phenomena and socio-spatial dynamics', New Perspectives in the Social Sciences, 11(2), 233-59.

Giannini, H. (1987). La "reflexión" cotidiana: hacia una arqueología de la experiencia. Santiago (CL): Editorial Universitaria.

Guinard, P., & Tratnjek, B. (2016). Geographies, geographers and emotions. Retour sur une amnésie... passagère? Carnets de Géographes (9): 1-16.

Hochschild, A. R. (1979). Emotion work, feeling rules, and social structure. American Journal of Sociology 85(3): 551-575.

Hochschild, A. R. (1983). The Managed Heart. Commercialization of Human Feeling. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Kemper, T. D. (1978). A Social Interactional Theory of Emotions. Sussex: John Wiley & Sons.

Kemper, T. D. (1990). Social structure and testosterone: Explorations of the socio-bio-social chain. Rutgers University Press.

Le Breton, D. (1998). Les passions ordinaires. Anthropologie des émotions. Paris: Armand Colin

Lindón, A. (2009). La construcción socioespacial de la ciudad: el sujeto cuerpo y el sujeto sentimiento. Revista Latinoamericana de Estudios sobre Cuerpos, Emociones y Sociedad (RELACES) 1:6-20.

Lordon, F. (2015) The society of affects: for a structuralism of passions. Paris: Éditions Points.

Matteis, F. D. (2020) Affective Spaces: Architecture and the Living Body, 1st edition. London: Routledge.

Nussbaum, M. (1996). Compassion: the basic social emotion. Social Philosophy and Policy 13(1): 27-58.

Pérez Sanz, P., & Gregorio Gil, C. (2020). El derecho a la ciudad desde la etnografía feminista: politizar emociones y resistencias en el espacio urbano. Revista INVI, 35(99), 1-33.

Racine, J.-B. and Bochet, B. (2002) 'Connaître et penser la ville : des formes aux affects et aux émotions, explorer ce qu'il nous reste à trouver. Manifesto for a sensitive as well as rigorous geography', Géocarrefour, 77(2), 117-32.

Rancière, J. (2000) Le Partage du sensible : Esthétique et politique, 1st edition. Paris: La Fabrique.

Reddy, W. (2001). The Navigation of Feeling. A Framework for the History of Emotions. Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press.

Robinson, J. (2006). Ordinary cities: Between Modernity and Development. London: Routledge.

Smith, M., Davidson, J., Cameron, L., & Bondi, L. (Eds.). (2009). Emotion, Place and Culture. Surrey (UK): Ashgate Publishing Ltd.

Thrift, N. (2004). Intensities of feeling: Towards a spatial politics of affect. Geografiska Annaler 86(1): 57-78.

Williams, R. (1977). Marxism and Literature. Oxford (UK): Oxford University Press.

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