Affective Encounters and Activist Subjectivities

In this thesis, I explore the ways in which notions of activism can be extended by a closer attention to affect from a relational-ontological perspective. Through an autoethnographic study of my own experiences with various forms of activism, I analyze the ways in which different affects emerging from processes of activism may have an impact on activist journeys and subjectivities. Analyzing the affective state of hopelessness or alienation that is often classified as activist burnout, I explore the openings it may present for transformation of self and work. Describing my own ways of addressing such “feelings out of place,” I point to the role of shifting notions of efficacy, time, and belonging in building “infrastructures of response-ability” that are dynamic and attentive to the rewards and strains of activism.M.A