Affectation

Courtrooms are dynamic and emotionally imbued spaces. In these environments, case processing challenges, shortcomings, successes, and power struggles impact court actors, defendants, and victims. We asked: What happens when you immerse a group of students with limited interest in court systems into this environment to witness, take notes, and reflect on their experiences? Can this experiential learning opportunity spark interest and enhance understanding of criminal court processes? A qualitative analysis of 42 journals reveals that students had strong emotional responses to what they saw; through journaling, students described not only their own reactions but also a myriad of emotions they perceived in court actors and participants. Further, many students personally related to processes observed, especially when they were attentive to the backgrounds of defendants, victims, and their families. Whether positive or negative, our data demonstrate that these experiences lead students to critically analyze system processes on a more macro level.

In this article, we affirm that the feminist march of March 8, 2019, in Santiago constituted a safe and secure space for the women who participated in it. As a result, it created the conditions for the deployment of individual resocialization processes through which the categories and modes of organization of patriarchal society are challenged. Using the accounts of participants, the article describes some of the elements involved in the production of this safe space, contributing empirical evidence to a debate that tends to be mostly speculative. The article includes a theoretical discussion and analyzes 11 "walking interviews" with women who participated in the march. The interviews were conducted by one of the authors a few days after the march in the places where it took place (in situ).

The articles in this issue study the uses and importance of orality in a range of contexts: the sung performance of poems in the piazza, language varieties on stage, the presentation of women’s speech in literary works, spoken and sung devotions, and preaching in the age of the Counter-Reformation.
The essays derive from a project, funded by the European Research Council, on Oral Culture, Manuscript and Print in Early Modern Italy.

The contributors to Affective Trajectories examine the mutual and highly complex entwinements between religion and affect in urban Africa in the early twenty-first century. Drawing on ethnographic research throughout the continent and in African diasporic communities abroad, they trace the myriad ways religious ideas, practices, and materialities interact with affect to configure life in urban spaces. Whether examining the affective force of the built urban environment or how religious practices contribute to new forms of attachment, identification, and place-making, they illustrate the force of affect as it is shaped by temporality and spatiality in the religious lives of individuals and communities. Among other topics, they explore Masowe Apostolic Christianity in relation to experiences of displacement in Harare, Zimbabwe; Muslim identity, belonging, and the global ummah in Ghana; crime, emotions, and conversion to neo-Pentecostalism in Cape Town; and spiritual cleansing in a Congolese branch of a Japanese religious movement. In so doing, the contributors demonstrate how the social and material living conditions of African cities generate diverse affective forms of religious experiences in ways that foster both localized and transnational paths of emotional knowledge.

Resumen: a través de una recuperación de las reflexiones metodológicas de Favret-Saada sobre la afectación, en este artículo realizaré una descripción analítica de las prácticas de colectivización en la comunidad aborigen de San Miguel de Colorados (Noroeste de Argentina) y su relación con otras formas de gestión colectiva. Los registros que voy a comentar están basados en mi experiencia etnográfica como investigador y corresponsable de un proyecto comunitario de edición de un libro con la historia de Colorados. Esta situación nos llevó a mí y a las familias de la comunidad a articular modos de organizar el trabajo y las decisiones por momentos muy diferentes, lo que dio lugar a una serie de quejas, reclamos y desencuentros que han impactado de múltiples formas en el desarrollo del proyecto.

Siguiendo las conceptualizaciones de Favret-Saada sobre la importancia de la comunicación involuntaria y no representacional en la praxis social —o lo que Stengers llama su dimensión pragmática—, describo cómo los coloradeños y yo nos afectamos mutua, pero diferencialmente, a raíz del proyecto del libro. La intención es explicitar las posiciones relacionales que movilizan estas afectaciones, para mostrar que en el origen de esta comunicación involuntaria se aloja un malentendido pragmático; una equivocación entre una definición de la acción colectiva como resultado del consenso representativo y otra en que las decisiones comunitarias se forman por medio del alineamiento temporal —y muchas veces conflictivo— de las familias y sus puntos de vista. Este análisis busca hacer un aporte a la reflexión antropológica en contextos colaborativos, a partir de considerar la implicancia de las teorías y prácticas nativas de la organización colectiva.

Palabras clave: afectación, conflictos indígenas y territoriales, equivocación, estudios andinos, proyectos comunitarios.

Affecting One Another. Ethnographic Considerations on Collaborative Relations and Misunderstandings in an Indigenous Community in the Puna of Jujuy, Argentina

Abstract: Using Favret-Saada’s methodological reflections on affectation, in this article, I will provide an analytical description of collectivization practices in the aboriginal community of San Miguel de Colorados (Northwest Argentina) and their relationship with other forms of collective management. The records I am going to comment on are based on my ethnographic experience as a researcher and co-director of a community project to publish a book on the history of Colorados. This led me and the families of the community to organize the work and decisions in very different ways, giving rise to a series of complaints, claims, and disagreements that have impacted the development of the project in many different ways.

Following Favret-Saada’s conceptualizations of the importance of involuntary and non-representational communication in social praxis —or what Stengers calls the pragmatic dimension—, I describe how Coloradans and I are mutually, but differentially, affected by the book project. The idea is to explain the relational positions that mobilize these affectations, to demonstrate that this involuntary communication is rooted in a pragmatic misunderstanding; a misunderstanding between a definition of collective action as the result of representative consensus and another in which community decisions are formed through the temporary —and often conflictive— alignment of families and their points of view. This analysis is intended to contribute to anthropological reflection in collaborative contexts by considering the implications of native theories and practices of collective organization.

Keywords: Affecting, Andean studies, community projects, indigenous and territorial conflicts, misunderstanding.

Afetar-se mutuamente. Considerações etnográficas sobre afetos e mal-entendidos colaborativos numa comunidade indígena da puna de Jujuy, Argentina

Resumo: a partir de uma recuperação das reflexões metodológicas de Favret-Saada sobre a afetação, neste artigo, realizo uma descrição analítica das práticas de coletivização na comunidade aborígine de San Miguel de Colorados (noroeste da Argentina) e sua relação com outras formas de gestão coletiva. Os registros que comento estão baseados em minha experiência etnográfica como pesquisador e corresponsável de um projeto comunitário de edição de um livro com a história de Colorados. Essa situação levou a mim e às famílias da comunidade a articular modos de organizar o trabalho e as decisões por momentos muito diferentes, o que abriu espaço a reclamações e desencontros que vêm impactando de diversas formas o desenvolvimento do projeto. Seguindo as conceituações de Favret-Saada sobre a importância da comunicação involuntária e não representacional na práxis social — ou que Stengers chama sua dimensão pragmática —, descrevo como a população de Colorados e eu nos afetamos mútua, mas diferencialmente, como consequência do projeto do livro. O objetivo é explicitar as posições relacionais que mobilizam essas afetações, para mostrar que, na origem dessa comunicação involuntária, está um mal-entendido pragmático; um equívoco entre uma definição da ação coletiva como resultado do consenso representativo e outra em que as decisões comunitárias se formam por meio do alinhamento temporal — e muitas vezes conflitivo — das famílias e seus pontos de vista. Esta análise busca contribuir para a reflexão antropológica em contextos colaborativos a partir de considerar a implicação das teorias e práticas nativas da organização coletiva.

Palavras-chave: afetação, conflitos indígenas e territoriais, equívoco, estudos andinos, projetos comunitários.

The contributors to Affective Trajectories examine the mutual and highly complex entwinements between religion and affect in urban Africa in the early twenty-first century. Drawing on ethnographic research throughout the continent and in African diasporic communities abroad, they trace the myriad ways religious ideas, practices, and materialities interact with affect to configure life in urban spaces. Whether examining the affective force of the built urban environment or how religious practices contribute to new forms of attachment, identification, and place-making, they illustrate the force of affect as it is shaped by temporality and spatiality in the religious lives of individuals and communities. Among other topics, they explore Masowe Apostolic Christianity in relation to experiences of displacement in Harare, Zimbabwe; Muslim identity, belonging, and the global ummah in Ghana; crime, emotions, and conversion to neo-Pentecostalism in Cape Town; and spiritual cleansing in a Congolese branch of a Japanese religious movement. In so doing, the contributors demonstrate how the social and material living conditions of African cities generate diverse affective forms of religious experiences in ways that foster both localized and transnational paths of emotional knowledge.