Description
As a transnational movement Black Lives Matter (BLM) ignited a range of affective atmospheres and public moods involving grief, anger, and injustice, and called forth complex histories and memories epitomised in part by conflicts over public statues and the spaces they dominated. IR scholars often conceptualize collective memory as narrative and discourse, yet as BLM demonstrates memories also involve deeply felt and visceral dimensions that provide affective force to publicly contested discourses. These felt and affective aspects of memory are themselves collectively shared, but are also more than the emotional reactions of individuals. How are these felt dimensions of memory (more than merely narratives of memory) transmitted across bodies, spaces, and borders? This paper suggests that collective memories become affective via shared public moods and affective atmospheres: diffuse and often inchoate emotional experiences, but which also powerfully shape the contours of public narratives of ontological (in)security. The paper explores the overlapping and multiple public moods of the BLM movement and suggests new ways of bringing together memory, ontological security, and affect studies in IR.
