The analytical potential of ‘affective imaginaries’ in higher education research

Abstract

This article theorises how the concept of affective imaginaries can be taken up in higher education research to turn attention to institutional affect. The discussion brings into conversation socio-cultural and affective-political readings of “social imaginaries” to argue that analytical work on affective imaginaries makes it possible to focus on institutional affect, and how institutions are embodied. In particular, the analysis suggests two related “sides” of affective imaginaries: the “affects of imaginaries” and the “imaginaries of affect”. The two “sides” of affective imaginaries are not meant to be understood as oppositional, but rather as complementary dimensions of how affects and imaginaries are entangled within higher education environments. The analytical potential of “affective imaginaries” lies in enabling scholars to not only attend to the affective and embodied components of imaginaries in higher education settings, but also highlight the potential for institutions to be sites for the transformation of affective imaginaries.