Affect Theory's Alternative Genealogies - Review Symposium on Leys's The Ascent of Affect

Despite what its title, blurb and editorial endorsements might suggest, Ruth Leys’ The Ascent of Affect: Genealogy and Critique is not a genealogy of the ‘turn to affect’ or a critical account of the emergence of affect theory across the humanities, social sciences and life sciences. It is, rather, a post-war history of the ‘science of emotion’ focusing on mainstream, American, largely male, psychologists and philosophers investigating the relationship between feelings and facial expressions in human and non-human animals. In its pursuit of the latter, it is rigorous, incisive and illuminating. In its claim to the former, it is partial, dismissive and, at times, misguided - though not without critical food for thought for interdisciplinary affect and emotion studies. In what follows, I summarise Leys’ important arguments and insights before offering a more detailed consideration of her critique of affect theory.