The making and unmaking of political emotions with narratives

Abstract

In this paper, we look at the way through which the conception of the relationship between the three notions of affects, narratives and politics has been conceptualized all along the history of idea identifying three main moments. (1) The Renan’s moment, in which narratives are identified as being a part of the core notion of what makes a nation through the affects of belongings that they are prone to generate. (2) The Halbwachs’ moment at which a distinction was made between history and memory. (3) And finally, the Ricœur’s moment, which tries to define a position that would respect but also pretend to go beyond the distinction previously made by Halbwachs. A common feature of these three moments is then identified pointing to the nexus between narratives, emotions, and politics.

Keywords

• politics
• renan
• ricœur
• collective memory
• emotions
• narratives
• halbwachs