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Molecular Affects in Human Geographies

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  • Derek P McCormack

    (School of Geography, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BJ, England)

Abstract

In this paper I engage critically with the relation between affect and the molecular—the former touching upon but not limited to questions of mood and emotion, and the latter registering the power of processes including, but not limited to, the neurochemical. The backdrop to this engagement is an emerging diagram of the molecular processes and pathways in which affect is implicated. The emergence of this diagram not only foregrounds the importance of thinking critically about how affect is caught up in a range of techniques and technologies: it also raises the question of how to attend to molecular affects—and their implication in the matter and movement of thinking—without falling back upon a kind of biological or physiological reductionism. I provide a provisional answer to this question. In doing so I draw support from a range of thinkers, including Lucretius, Spinoza, Deleuze, and Guattari, each of whom points to the possibility of cultivating a kind of molecular logic of sense. In moving towards a conclusion, I speculate about how this logic productively complicates the thinking space of human geography.

Suggested Citation

  • Derek P McCormack, 2007. "Molecular Affects in Human Geographies," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 39(2), pages 359-377, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:39:y:2007:i:2:p:359-377
    DOI: 10.1068/a3889
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Dingelstad, David & Gosden, Richard & Martin, Brian & Vakas, Nickolas, 1996. "The social construction of drug debates," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 43(12), pages 1829-1838, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Joe Gerlach, 2017. "Ecuador’s experiment in living well: Sumak kawsay, Spinoza and the inadequacy of ideas," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 49(10), pages 2241-2260, October.
    2. Andrews, Gavin J. & Chen, Sandra & Myers, Samantha, 2014. "The ‘taking place’ of health and wellbeing: Towards non-representational theory," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 210-222.
    3. Elizabeth L Sweet & Sara Ortiz Escalante, 2015. "Bringing bodies into planning: Visceral methods, fear and gender violence," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 52(10), pages 1826-1845, August.
    4. Maria Hynes, 2016. "Indifferent by nature: A post-humanist reframing of the problem of indifference," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 48(1), pages 24-39, January.

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