The Emotion, Space and Society AAG Lecture: Emotional entanglements in a world that's falling apart

In human geography, many of us are involved in community-engaged and activist research, much of which is inspired by deep emotional commitments to progressive change. Yet, the last three years have taken a toll on academics. Many in academia are anxious and burnt out, as the demands of the neoliberal university remain relentless despite the seeming collapse of the world around us. We have witnessed a radical restructuring of research, teaching, and praxis as the pandemic changed our ability to do in-person work. Building solidarity and enacting social change under these circumstances has been challenging, to say the least. And while the Covid-19 pandemic has illustrated the critical global interdependencies between all of us and inspired new forms of mutual aid and support, it has also inspired rising division and growing right-wing movements based on imaginaries of fear and insecurity. In this paper, I discuss how emotional geographies are inherently woven through all human experiences and interactions, but they are especially implicated in issues of social and spatial justice. Given ongoing global crises, I argue that holding onto emotions in academic research, teaching, and praxis is more important than ever. •Many in academia are anxious and burnt out, as the demands of the neoliberal university remain relentless despite the seeming collapse of the world around us.•While the Covid-19 pandemic illustrated critical global interdependencies and inspired new forms of mutual aid and support, it also inspired rising division and growing right-wing movements based on imaginaries of fear and insecurity.•Emotional geographies are inherently woven through all human experiences and interactions, but they are especially implicated in issues of social and spatial justice.•Given ongoing global crises, I argue that holding onto emotions in academic research, teaching, and praxis is more important than ever.