conversation with reddy et al on field history of emotions

8/20/2019 Conversation With Reddy Et Al on Field History of Emotions

1/30

Wiley and Wesleyan University are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to History and Theory.

http://www.jstor.org

Wesleyan University

THE HISTORY OF EMOTIONS: AN INTERVIEW WITH WILLIAM REDDY, BARBARA ROSENWEIN,AND PETER STEARNSAuthor(s): JAN PLAMPER, WILLIAM REDDY, BARBARA ROSENWEIN and PETER STEARNSSource: History and Theory, Vol. 49, No. 2 (May 2010), pp. 237-265Published by: forWiley Wesleyan UniversityStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40864443Accessed: 29-04-2015 19:02 UTC

EFEREN ESLinked references are available on JSTOR for this article:

http://www.jstor.org/stable/40864443?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#references_tab_contents

You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references.

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available athttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of contentin a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship.For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

This content downloaded from 130.63.180.147 on Wed, 29 Apr 2015 19:02:25 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

http://www.jstor.org/http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=blackhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=wesleyanhttp://www.jstor.org/stable/40864443http://www.jstor.org/stable/40864443?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#references_tab_contentshttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/40864443?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#references_tab_contentshttp://www.jstor.org/stable/40864443http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=wesleyanhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=blackhttp://www.jstor.org/


2/30

History

nd

Theory

9

(May

2010),

237-265 ©

Wesleyan niversity

010 ISSN: 0018-2656

THE

HISTORY OF EMOTIONS: AN INTERVIEW WITH

WILLIAM

REDDY,

BARBARA

ROSENWEIN,

AND PETER

STEARNS

JAN LAMPER1

ABSTRACT

The

history

f emotions

s a

burgeoning

ield-

so

much

o,

that

ome

are

invoking

n

"emotional

urn." s a

way

of

charting

his

development,

have nterviewedhree f the

leading ractitioners

f

the

history

f emotions:

William

Reddy,

arbara

Rosenwein,

nd

Peter tearns. he interviewsetrace ach historian's

ntellectual-biographical

ath

o

the

history

f

emotions,

ecapitulateey oncepts,

nd

critically

iscuss he imitationsf the

available

nalytical

ools.

n

doing

o,

they

ouch n

Reddy

s

concepts

f

emotive,"

emo-

tional

egime,"

nd "emotional

avigation,"

s well as

on Rosen

weins

"emotional om-

munity"

nd on Stearns

s

"emotionology"

nd

offer

limpses

f each

historian's

ngoing

research.

he interviewsddress he

hallenges resented

o historians

y

research

n the

neurosciencesndthe ike,highlightinghe istinctiveontributionsfferedy historical

approach.

n

closing,

he nterviewees

ppear

o reach

consensus,

nvisioning

he

history

of emotions ot

s a

specialized

ield ut s a means f

ntegrating

he

ategory

f emo-

tion nto

ocial, ultural,

nd

political

istory,mulating

he ise

f

gender

s an

analytical

category

ince ts

arly eginnings

s "women's

history"

n

the1970s.

Keywords:

istory

f

motions,motion,

eeling,

ife

cience, euroscience,

oststructural-

ism

I. WILLIAM M. REDDY

JP:Let us start

ith n exercise

n

ntellectual

utobiography.

ou studied is-

tory

nder oan cott

ndWilliam ewell at the

University

f

Chicagoduring

he

late

1960s

nd

arly

970s,

held

postdoctoralositions

n

anthropology

ith

lif-

ford

Geertz t Princeton

nd n

psychology

ithJerome

agan

at

Harvard,

nd

started ut

as a laborhistorianf

France,

ighteenth-nineteenth

enturies. ow

did

youget

nto he

history

femotions?

WR:

My

research n

the

extile

ndustry

ttempted

otreat his arliest fmech-

anized

manufacturing

s

a

cultural ield. n

other

words,

tried

o

understand,

s-

pecially, ow he dea of labor s a commodity" asembodiedn newritualsof

measurement,

f

payment,

f

discipline)

nd new social

practices

for

xample,

among

membersf

aboring

amilies,

r

nthe

olitical phere).

n a

second

tudy,

I

tried o extend

myfindings

o thewhole f

early

ndustrial

urope.My

aim

was

1.

I

conducted he nterviews ia e-mail.For their omments

am

verygrateful

o

Christian

Bailey,

ascal

Eitler,

te

Frevert,

enno

Gammerl,

ngo

Gildenhard,

argrit

ernau,

obert

eifeld,

Monique

cheer,

Anne

Schmidt,

nd Eva

Sperschneider.


http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


3/30

238

JAN

PLAMPER

to show

hat,

fthe

very

dea of "interest"r

"gain"

had to be

culturallyritually

and

practically)

efined efore

t

could

erve

s

grounds

or

ction,

hen

ertainly

so didthe

oncept

f "class."

From here,decided oexplorewhat tmeant,nculturalerms,or societyo

be basedon "freedomf

contract,"

s that

rinciple

as

embodied

n

Napoleon's

Civil Code

of 1804. The

study

hat esulted

omparedmarriage

ith

woforms

of

"bourgeois" mployment:

hat

s,

salaried

mployment

n

the civil

service,

and work

n

the

merging

ield f

ournalism.

he inclusion

f

marriage

as an

initial

ttempt

o

bring ender

ssues

ntofocuson

an

equal footing

ith

ther

ones.

Marriage

was

obviously

nomalous

s a

contract- nlike ther

ontracts,

its

erms ere aidout

n

detail

n

theCivilCode

and,

most

emarkably,

he

arties

remained

qual

before

he aw

only

ntil he

marriage

as consummated.

n

prac-

tice,however,very ype f abor ontract ad tsownrich arietyfanomalies.

I

saw

myself

s

still

oing

abor

history,

n

effect.

In

all this

research,

was

constantlylaying

he

dragon

f "self-interest"-

showing

hat

t

was an

empty

otion hat ouldbe filled

n

practice nlyby

cul-

tural

tructures,

notion hat ad ts

own

history

nd

could notbe used without

critical

eflection.

t

the ame

time,

noticed

hat,

n

gender istory,

esearchers

were

becoming

nterested

n

emotions,

argely

ecause

womenhad

always

been

consideredmore

motional

han

men

n

European istory.

his

unchanging

dea

meant

uite

different

hings

n

different

eriods,

s it turned

ut-

a

discovery

suggestinghatmotions ave a history.thoughthatmotions-whateverhey

turned ut to be-

might rovide

better,

more

positive round

or

heorizing

the ndividual han

nything

vailable o far.This new

ground,

hoped,might

allow historianso

get beyond

he

fracturing

f social identities-

rom

highly

complex)

lasses,

nto

enders,

thnic ndcultural

rigins,

aces,

exualities,

nd

the

verlaps,

r

intersections,"

f

these

ategories.

he

inguistic

urn ad

helped

forward work f

destruction,

aking

t

mpossible

o

conceptualize

ocial ife

n

terms f iberal

r

Marxist

heory.

motion

might rovide

new

underlying

truc-

ture

hrough

hich ll these

omplex

meanings

e had

discoveredndresearched

becamepersonal. alsothoughthat istorians ere, o far, sing he oncept f

"emotions"

n

an

entirely

ommon-sense

ay,

without

ny

critical

eflectionn

thecultural

onstructionf

this

entral Western"

ngredient

f the elf.About

1995, hen,

beganworking

n The

Navigation

fFeeling?

JP:What re

youcurrently

orking

n

n thefield

f emotions'

istory?

WR:

I

am

currentlyorking

n

the

history

fromantic

ove.

As

a

follow-up

o

thebook on the

history

f

emotions,

am

taking

n this rucial Western"

mo-

tion,

which as a rich

history

hat

might ppear uite

differenthen xaminedn

the

ight

fthe

heory

f"émotives."

n

doing

his,

am

also

taking

n

the

history

ofsexuality,hichhas beentheorized or hemost artntermsf"desire"- as

understood,

nitially,

n

the works

f Foucault

nd

Lacan.

I

think he

theoriza-

tion f desire s often

nadequate.

oucault

nd

Lacan,

n

effect,

ookoverfrom

Freud

not

uncritically,

utwithoutufficient

istorical

nderstanding)

notion

of

desire hat an trace ts

history

ack

to

Augustine

f

Hippo.

Desire,"

n other

2. WilliamM.

Reddy,

The

Navigation

f Feeling:

A

Framework

or

the

History f

Emotions

(Cambridge,

K:

Cambridge niversity

ress,

001).




4/30

THE

HISTORY OF EMOTIONS

239

words,

s

very

much Western

onstruct,

ndnot

omething

n which universal

theory

an be built. t does not xist lsewhere. he atest euroscience

esearch,

will

lso

try

o

show,

s unable o

provide

s with clear

understanding

f sexual

"appetite"rdesire,tsneurophysiology,r tsneurochemistry-nall likelihood

because o

have sexualdesire" s a

cultural,

ot

hard-wired,

xperience.

I will

how

hat he

European

dea of romanticove was formulated

y

an aris-

tocratic ashion-

iterary

nd

practical-

f the welfth

entury,

kind f under-

ground

movement

f

protestgainst

he

Gregorian

eform's xtreme

heology

f

desire.

ove,

said the

roubadours

nd their

mitators,

s

sacred;

t s self-sacrific-

ing,

ndcannot e a mere

ppetite. plan

o

make

point-by-pointomparison

f

this

welfth-century

ransformation

ith

welfth-century

reatmentsf

sexuality

in Hindubhakti

empleworship

nd

among

Heian

Japan's mperial

lite: both

were ocialcontextsnwhich love"was not ontrasted ith desire," ecause

therewas no

concept

f

sexualdesire s

appetite.

JP:

n

your

1997

article

Against

onstructionism:

he

Historical

thnogra-

phy

fEmotions"

ou

described hat

ne

might

all "the

poststructuralist

ilem-

ma"- the oss ofa

vantage oint

rom

hich

ne

can make

thical-politicaludg-

ments

n a relativistniverse.3ou went n to showhow suchvalue

udgments

in

fact

rept

nto 980s ocial-constructionist

thnographies

femotions hat

ur-

ported

o

have

relegated

hem o thedustbin f "ethnocentrism."hat

you

did

was to advocate

he

ecovery

f uch

vantage oint recisely

ocontinue

he ib-

eral-progressiveolitical roject utofwhichmany trands fpoststructuralism

grew.

And,

ne

might

dd,

contra he nsinuationf

adhering

o

a

natural-rights,

anti-postmodernist

rand f

iberalism,

ou

once

said that

our

utopia

would,

n

any

ase,

ook more

ikeJudith utler's

han ikeMarthaNussbaum's."4

n

your

article,

ou

hen ranslated

heuniversalisms. socialconstructionism

inary

nto

John

Austin's

peech

ct

theory,inking

constaties"

(utterances

hat escribe

the

world,

uch s "this able s

white")

with

niversalism,

performatives"

utter-

ancesthat an

alter he

world,

uch s the

bride's

yes,

do" at a

wedding)

with

social constructionism.

y coining

he erm émotives"

ou suggested way

out

ofthepoststructuralistilemma. ow?Canyouexplicatehis or urreaders?

WR:

First,

shouldnote

hat

regard

he rticle

ou

refer o as a

preliminary

formulation,

nd The

Navigation fFeeling

f

2001 as a muchmore

atisfactory

discussion f all these

matters.

The

concept

f

"émotives"

rovides way

outof

the

poststructuralist

ilemma

only

f

one

accepts,

n

advance,

hat here

s

somethingeyond anguage.

his

does

nothave obe

conceptualized

na Kantian

way,

s a

Ding

an sich

beyond

ur

understanding.

f

one

ikes,

he

something"

hat s

beyond anguage

an be seen

as the xistence f

multipleanguages

within he

self,"

r

within

experience,"

orat east s a preconditiono the xistence fmeaningfulpeech. t squitewell

known

hat he

oststructuralistonception

f

anguage

ad ts

rigin

n

structural

linguistics,pecifically

n

the heories f Fernand

e

Saussure

nd

RomanJako-

3. WilliamM.

Reddy, Against

Constructionism:he Historical

thnography

f

Emotions,"

Current

nthropology

8,

no.

2

(1997),

327-351

4.

In

Reddy'

response

o

Jeremy

.

Popkin's

review f

WilliamM.

Reddy,

The

Navigation f

Feeling:

A Framework

or

the

History f

Emotions.

-F

raneeReview

,

no. 119

November 002).




5/30

240

JAN

PLAMPER

bson.

n

a recent

rticle,

argue

hat tructural

inguistics

s a

social-science

is-

cipline-the mpiricaltudy

fhuman

anguage

se- andthe

esultingheory

f

language

s a

hypotheticalxplanation.5

f

one

accepts

he

pistemological

erms

inwhich t was formulated,hen ne ought lso to agreethat lot ofpresent-

day

neuroscientificesearch

but

not

ll),

because t s consistent ith he ame

epistemology,

s

worthy

f

respect.

his

research as

gone

far

eyond

aussure,

showing

hat cores fdifferent

odes

operate

n

parallel

whenever

person

per-

ceives" n

object

r understands

spoken

r written

ord.No one knowshowto

read ach

of

these

odes

separately.

ut t s

possible- through

he

areful

tudy

ofreaction

imes,

vent-related

otentials,

MRI

cans,

nd

so on- to

detect heir

separate unctioning,

ndtheirmutual

nteraction.

e

know hat arious evels

of

decoding

work

imultaneously.

or

example,

person

s

already nconsciously

guessing tthemeaning f a wordbefore aving dentifiedhephonemeshat

make t

up.

These unconscious

uessesrely

n

input

rom ther enses:

vision,

smell,

ouch- each ofwhich

nvolves odes of several

ypes.

ranslations

mong

all

these odes are

being ccomplished

t

ncredible

peed.

It

s therefore

eaningful

or

nyone anywhere

n the

world)

o

say,

When

heard

myself ay

x,

I

thought,

hat m

I

saying?"

utting thought

ntowords

involves

ranslation.

istening

o

t

as

opposed

o

ust thinking

t)

nvolves till

other

rocedures

f translation.

ranslation,

s

many

philosophers

ave

rigor-

ously

hown,

nvolves n element f

ndeterminacy.

herefore,

ny xpression

f

the orm I feelx" involves double lementf ndeterminacy,ecause t sabout

that

entity"

hat

ormulateshe

xpression,

nd,

n

being

uttered,

nfluences

or

changes)

he

ntity

n

question.

motional

xpressions,

n

this

ense,

re neither

constati

e

nor

performative,

n

Austin's ense.

They

re a

third ind

f

utterance;

this

s

why

coined he erm émotives" or

hem.

argue

hat

émotives" re at

once

managerial

nd

exploratory.

n

emotional

xpression

s an

attempt

o call

up

the

motion hat s

expressed;

t s an

attempt

o feel

what ne

says

one feels.

These

ttemptssually

work,

ut

hey

an and

do

fail.

When

hey

ail,

he motive

expression

s

"exploratory"

n the ense

hat ne

discovers

omething

nexpected

about ne's ownfeelings.

But o

get

rom

his

oint

o he

uestion

f

political ignificance

nvolves

ross-

ing

wo

more

ridges:

1)

recognizing

hat

ommunitiesave

huge

take n

how

people habitually

se

"émotives";

nd

2)

finding

ome standard

y

which

ne

can measure r

dentify

motional

uffering.y

"emotional

uffering"

mean

ny

kind f

distress,

ncluding hysical ain,

hat s attended

y negative esponses,

that

s,

that s

truly

nwanted.

The firstf these

ridges

s

easily

rossed.As

I

have noted

lsewhere,

here s

ample

evidence n

ethnographic

nd historical esearch

n emotions hat

very

communityeploys motionaldeals andnorms,ndinculcates orms hrough

emotional

ituals,

ormulas,

rayers,

aths,

nd

so on.6

5. WilliamM.

Reddy, SayingSomething

ew:

Practice

heory

nd

Cognitive

Neuroscience,"

Arcadia:

nternationalournal

orLiterary

tudies

4,

no.

1

2009),

8-23.

6.

See

Reddy,

he

Navigation fFeeling;

dem,

Emotional

tyles

nd

Modern orms f

Life,"

in

Sexualized

rains:

Scientific odeling

f

Emotional

ntelligencerom

Cultural

erspective,

d.

Nicole

Karafyllis

nd Gotlind lshöfer

Cambridge,

A: MIT

Press,

008),

81-100.




6/30

THE

HISTORY OF EMOTIONS

24 1

The

second fthese

ridges resents

more ifficulties.he dea of "social suf-

fering"

as been

widely

ddressed

mong nthropologists

n recent

ears,

ndthe

definitionf the erm s

recognized

s a

problem

f considerable

rgency.7

o a

significantegree, ufferings organizednd varies nsurprising aysfrom ne

time nd

place

to another.

ormative

émotives,"

ften

rescribed,

ften

epeat-

ed,

can

be

used,

up

to

a

point,

o

change

how

we feel.

Nonetheless

here re

uni-

versal)

imits

o our

plasticity

n

this

egard,

s wellas a

(universal)

hysiological

substratehat s

manipulated

n

such

training.earning

he

norms f

a

prevail-

ing

"emotional

egime" enerally

nvolves

uffering

nder certain

iscipline.

The kind f

sufferingsually

ssociated

with

iolation f

rights-

rom

orture

o

genocide-

s often nderstood

yperpetrators

s an

extension f

thekind

f

suf-

fering

nflicted

n the

nculcation

f

norms,

s when ne "humiliates"

political

prisonerr"punishes"nenemy ation.

It is therefore

valid

question

o

ask,

n

any pecific

ase,

whatkinds

f

suf-

feringmay

be

legitimately

nflicted

by

whom,

n

whom)

nd whatkinds re

illegitimate.

here reno

easy

answers o

such

question.

ut t s a

proper ues-

tion o

ask,

nd

approximate

nswers re

extremely

seful,

oth

cientifically

nd

politically.

JP:How

has

your

hinking

volved

n

"émotives"

nd the

poststructuralist

i-

lemma ince 1997?

WR:

Since

the

publication

f

The

Navigation f

Feeling

n

2001,

1 have

pub-

lished wopieces- alreadymentioned-hat how he ompatibilityfthe heory

of émotives"

ith

1)

a

Wittgensteinianpproach

o social

ife

in

2008),

and

2)

practice

heory

s

developed y

Bourdieu,

Giddens,Ortner,ewell,

and others

(in

2009)

8

1

have,

o some

xtent,

ried

o

keep

track

f

the

apid

evelopment

f

cognitive

euroscience

nd ffective

euroscience;nd,

s discussed

riefly

n

the

2009

essay,

find

much hat

onfirms

he ritical

pproach

o these ields aid out

in

The

Navigation

fFeeling.

JP: "Emotives"

ave been

criticized or

what

ne

might

all

linguistic

mpe-

rialism,

or

orcing

he

pecificity

f

verbal tterancesn

such

non-verbal

ody

practicess smiling rcrying. arbaraRosenwein,or nstance, roten her-

otherwise

nthusiastic-

eview

f

The

Navigation f Feeling

n

The American

Historical

eview hat

émotives"

privilege

ords

ver ther

orms

f motional

behavior,

ut n

some

ultures

for

xample,

hat f

medieval

celand)

reddening,

trembling,

nd

swelling lay

a more

mportant

ole thanutterances."9 hatdo

you

ay

to the

harge

f

ogocentrism?

WR: It s both

egitimate

nd

mportant

o

distinguish

hose

xpressions-

er-

bal,

gestural,

acial,

nd so on- that erive

irectly

rom

onscious,

ntentional

"decisions"

made

n thefull

ight

f

attention,

rom

ther

xpressions

hat ccur

inadvertentlyrwith nlypartialwareness. heformeran be "émotives"; he

7.

See,

for

xample,

he

nthology

ocial

Suffering,

d. Arthur

leinman,

eena

Das,

and

Margaret

Lock

Berkeley:

niversity

f California

ress,

997),

s well as Ramu

Nagappan,

peaking

avoc:

Social

Suffering

nd

South

AsianNarratives

Seattle:

University

f

Washington

ress,

005).

8.

Reddy

"Emotional

tyles

ndModern orms f

Life;" dem,

Saying omething

ew: Practice

Theory

nd

Cognitive

euroscience."

9.

BarbaraH.

Rosenwein,

eviewof

Reddy,

The

Navigation

f Feeling,

American

Historical

Review

107,

no.

4

(October 2002),

1181.




7/30

242

JAN LAMPER

latter

annot

e,

for

he

imple

eason hat

émotives" reboth

managerial

nd x-

ploratory.

e utter

or

execute)

hem n

the

hope

hat

ur

ctual ull

esponse

will

match hewordswe utter

r

gestures

e make.

Responses

uch s tears ndblush-

ing rewidely eportedobebeyond uch onscious, irect ecision-making.f

course,

ome

persons

re ble to earn

o

produce

hem,

f

not

t

will,

nonetheless

with

redictable

uccess when

hey

wish.But even

they

o notdo so

by

direct

voluntary

ontrol,

nlike

moving

rm

r

leg

muscles;

nstead

hey ely

n indi-

rection,

uch s

recalling

r

magining

n

appropriate

ontext. his

explainswhy

tears

nd

blushing

ave

often

een

onsidered

o

be marks

f

sincerity,

rclues

to

an

nteriortate he ndividual

may

wish

o mask.

JP: One

could also

argue

hat

émotives" ailto

adequately

eflecthe ocial

situation

n

which

tterancesre made.

For

example,

he

life-altering"

eedback

cycleput ntomotion y myutteranceI amhappy"nfrontfmypsychothera-

pist,

whom

pay

to achieve

happiness,

iffersrom he

ife-altering

ffectsf the

sameutterancen

anotherocial

situation- or

nstance,

hen

defiantly

eply

I

am

happy"

o

my

mother,

ho has

ust

proven

o me that am

locked

n

an un-

happy

omantic

elationship.

ome

of

hese

ontextual

ifferences anifesthem-

selves n

ntonation,

odulation

f voice-

in

short,

rosody-

but

thers emain

invisible.

ome kindof

contextual ector eeds

to be built

nto he "emotive"

concept,

on't

you gree?

WR: I

completelygree

with his

bservation.t seems

to me this

s

just

the

kind f ssue wishtobringn as a concern f research.t is perfectlyossible

that ome of the

prosody

f an

utterances

chosen,

ome

nadvertentr

uncon-

scious-this s

perhaps lways

he ase. I

would

pply

he ame

distinctions

in

the

previous uestion.

he "emotive" haracter

f an

utterancer

gesture

rises

from hefact hat

he ctor s

trying

o

accomplish

n

act

of

self-management

r

self-explorationy

making

t. The effects

f this

motive

may

show

up

in

the

utterance

tself. ne

might,

or

xample,

tart

obbing

efore ne

managed

o

complete

he

utterance,

I

am

happy."

JP:Another

ey oncept

f

yours

s that

fthe

emotional

egime,"

hich

ou

define s "The set of normativemotions ndtheofficial ituals, ractices,nd

'émotives' hat

xpress

nd nculcate

hem;

necessary

nderpinning

f

any

ta-

ble

political egime."10

ow,

t s

hard o

avoid he

mpression

hat

our

rototypi-

cal

political

egime

s

thenation-state.et

this

nation-states of

course

fairly

recent,

modern

nvention.n

manyperiods

f

history

nd

regions

f the

world

there

was no state

whose

tentacles

eeply

eached

nto hefabric f

social ife.

Historical

ctors nstead

elonged

o

multiple,

verlapping,

argely

ocal commu-

nities.

o

quote

Barbara

Rosenwein

nce

more,

venwhen

pplied

o

centralized

states he

oncept may

overlook arieties

nd ocalisms. s

it not

ikely,

or x-

ample, hat ighteenth-centuryalons,maritaleds, nd awcourts- et lonethe

homes

f he

aboring oor

the

atter

point

aised

y

Reddy

imself)

onstituted

their wn

emotional

ommunities,

hoserelations

o

the

motives

rescribedy

'sentimentalism'

or

courtlyivility,

or hat

matter)

aried?"11

ow about

using

10.

Reddy,

The

Navigation

of Feeling,

129.

1 1

Rosenwein,

American

Historical

Review,

1181.




8/30

THE

HISTORY

OF

EMOTIONS

243

"emotional

egime"

n

the

plural?

How,then,

would emotional

egimes"

iffer

from osenwein's wn"emotional ommunities"?

WR: I am

completely

t ease with he

dea of

using

the term n the

plural.

When firstormulatedt, nfact, was thinkingfthe thnographicontext-

face-to-face

ommunitiess

in

the lassic studies f Catherine

utz

or Lila

Abu-

Lughod.12

t s

quite

lear hat motional orms re

mposed,

nd

motional

deals

exalted,

n

small solated ommunities

uch s that

f

the

longot

f

MichelleZ.

Rosaldo's

classic

1980

ethnography.13

noted

n

The

Navigation fFeeling

hat

any

ommunity

hat

xtends

eyond

ace-to-face

ontactss

likely

o have

many

emotional

tyles.

would dd here hat ome of them re

mposed

n their

wn

context,

hat

s,

have theforce

f norms

n

that ontext.

flight

ttendant ho

cannot

e cheerful

ill

ose her rhis

ob.

But he

ame

norm ouldnot e

applied

toa basketballoach a group,ntheU.S.A.,notoriousor he requencyndbril-

liance

of

their

ngry

utbursts).

ome face-to-faceommunities

ithin

larger

polity

may

be able

to

sustain motional

tyles

hat ave ittle

n

commonwith he

transregional

orms f

that

olity.

f

they

nforce

hese

tyles hrough enalties

such

s

gossip,

xclusion,

r

demotion,

hese

tyles

ount

s

"emotional

egimes."

Those

styles

hat

re

more r

ess

coordinated

ith he

motional

orms nforced

at the enter f

power

r

authority

f a

polity

ouldbe considered

omponents

f

its

emotional

egime."

JP: Whatdo

you

make

of

the

vulgarization

f

such

concepts

s

"emotional

regime," hichmany istorianstripf tsdimension f "émotives"ndemploy

to denote o

more han he motional

tyle

f

a

group?

WR: Our

ability

o

grasp

he

political,

n

the

way

that

Raymond

Williamss

notion f

"structuref

feeling" rasps

he

political,

elies

on

our

appreciation

that motional

tyles

re

enforced,

hat

enalties

nd exclusion allon thosewho

do not onformo

them.

Style"

becomes

regime"

when

he um

of

the

penal-

ties and exclusions dds

up

to

a

coherent

tructure,

nd the ssue of

conformity

becomes

defining

or

he ndividual. or

example,

when wo

persons

egin

to

shout t each other

n

anger

n

a

restaurant,

he taff f therestaurants

likely

o

ask them o eave. There s anemotionaltyle ppropriateo restaurantustom-

ers.This s one of

a number

f

styles ppropriate

o consumers-

lthough

hat

is

permissible

t

a

soccer

game

s

quite

differentromwhat s

permissible

t a

restaurant.

e can

begin

o talkof an "emotional

egime"

or onsumers

hen

we

consider

hat,

n

many

Western

ndustrialized

ountries

oday,

ne

might

e

deprived

f thenecessities f

ife,

n

effect,

f

one

could

not onform

o at least

one or twoof

the

range

f

emotional

tyles umulatively

enforced"n consum-

ers.Even

a

wealthy chizophrenic

ay

need

helpgetting

ood.

JP:

A

critical

omponent

f

your heory

s

to be able to make

value

udgments

about arious emotionalegimes." oucall theprocess fmaneuveringetween

12.

See

Lila

Abu-Lughod,

eiled entiments:

onor nd

Poetry

n a Bedouin

ociety

Berkeley:

University

f California

ress,

986);

Catherine

utz,

Unnatural motions:

veryday

entiments

n

a

Micronesian toll nd Their

Challenge

o Western

heory

Chicago:University

f

Chicago

Press,

1988).

13. See

MichelleZ.

Rosaldo,

Knowledge

nd Passion:

Ilongot

Notions

f

Self

nd Social

Life

(Cambridge,

K:

Cambridge

niversity

ress,

1980).




9/30

244

JAN

LAMPER

different

oal

orientationsf

emotions emotional

avigation,"

he

availability

of

spaces

or

practices)

hat educe

oal

conflict

emotional

efuge,"

heresult f

emotional

oal

conflictemotional

uffering,"

nd the deal "emotional

egime"

onethat ffershegreatestmountf "emotionaliberty."o illustrate,kulak's

daughteruring

he oviet ollectivizationf

griculture

ouldhavebeen hrown

into ntense motional

uffering

ecauseof the

goal

conflict etweenove for

her

biological

athernd

ove

for he fatherf

peoples,"

talin. f she

obeyed

he at-

ter,

hehad

todenounce

he ormernd

ikely

ause his

physical

nnihilation.

he

"emotional

egime"

f

Stalinism ouldhavemade t

very

ifficultor er o

prac-

tice uccessful

motional

avigation,

ouldhaveofferedittle

motional

efuge,

thus

mounting

o

a small

degree

f emotional

iberty.

t was a bad "emotional

regime."

s this

fittingxample?Apart

rom

hiskind

f

goal

conflict

etween

twoobjects f ove,what lse does "emotionaluffering"nyour nderstanding

encompass?

WR:

You

have

offered

s a

quick xample

case that

s

simplified,erhaps

oo

simplified.

t raises

many uestions.

or

example,

n a

society

where hildrenre

left

nder

arental

are

through

dolescence,

t

might

e thecase that

hildren,

given

he

power

o denounce

heir

arents,

ould ften se this

ower

o enhance

their

emotional

iberty"

is-à-vis heir

arents.

heymight

lso sufferome

guilt

in

making

uchuse

of

heir ew

power.

n

any

ase,

careful

nvestigation

ould

be

necessary

o determinehe ffectsf such

policy.

n

The

Navigation fFeeling

I argued hat igid egimes- nwhich motional orms re more harply rawn

and

more

igorously

nforced-

will

be less stable han

oose

regimes

hat

olerate

substantialeviance.

had n mind he

ontrast

etween

heJacobin

epublic

nd

the

onstitutional

onarchiesf

nineteenth-century

rance. t s also the ase that

the

rigid egimes

nflict

special

kind f emotional

uffering,

ften

njustifiable

suffering,

hat s

sharp,

ersonal,

nd sudden- as when ne s

udged

ummarily

by

revolutionary

ribunal.

uffering

nder heCivilCode of 1804- for

xample,

suffering

aused

by

a

long

erm f

unemployment-

as more

iffuse,

ess

easily

defined.n

addition,

twas ess ntense ecause he ndividual etainedn

array

f

choices nd shreds fhope.

But

one must read

arefully. uring

he

Soviet

era,

for

xample,

t least

n

some

nstances,

suspect eople

found

motional

efuge

t their

lace

of

work,

because

hey njoyed

high egree

f

ob security

ndbecause

many nterprises

"stockpiled"

xcess labor

n

order o

be able

to

meet

productionuotas.

Only

experts

n the

fieldwould

be able to determine

f

thiswere he ase.

Nonetheless,

it does not trike

me as

prima

acie

implausible

hat herewas more motional

freedomor ertain

roups

n the ovietUnion

n

the

1930s

han or

many roups

in

Depression-era

klahoma r

Mississippl.

Aparadigmoften se for motional ffortndsufferings the ase of a long-

distance unner.he farther

he

runs,

he

greater

he

ntensity

f certain

hysio-

logical esponses:

muscular

ain, ointpain,

he ensation f

acking

xygen.

he,

likemost

humans,

ssociates

hese ensations

ith failure

f

self-care. outine

self-care

s a

high-priorityoal

for

ny

humanwhohas survived

arly

hildhood.

Feelings

f

urgency

nd

anxiety

rise s this

oal

is

neglected.

he more ntense

the

pain,

hemore

onvincing

he

mpression

hat ne

is

neglectingomething




10/30

THE HISTORY OF

EMOTIONS

245

essential.

he

"anxiety"

hat esults

s learned-but t s a

feeling

lmost

very

healthy

dult

willhave

earned,

ne

way

or another.

he

competitive

unner- or

example,

he

Olympic

ontestant-

as

another

igh-priority

oal,

which

s

to

win

therace.Whenwe admire hewinnerfthiskind fcompetition,e admire,n

part,

hewinner's

apacity

o

sustain he

goal

of

winning

hrough

he

frequent,

intense

nner

oal

conflicts

hat

ccompany

raining

nd

performance.

uppose,

however,

hat he

runner ere

rying

o

win

because

he was the

aptive

f a to-

talitarian

egime,

nd her

aptors

ad told

her hat

f

he ost he

race,

ne of

her

fellow

risoners

ould

be executed.Whilewe would

till dmire er f he

won,

we

would

regard

er

reatments a form f

torture,

nd her

xperience

s a form

of

"emotional

uffering"

rather

han

effort").

It s

not

asy

to

apply

uch

abels,

utwe must

pply

hem,

r

their

quivalents,

orgive uponmaking ny political enseofhistory.orexample, nepolitical

stance oward

modern,

onscriptednfantry

oldierss revealed

when

ne

decides

to call

them brave"

like

Olympic ompetitors),

nd

quite

a

different

olitical

stancewhen ne decides o

call them victims."

I

would

all the

winner

f

a Roman

gladiatorial ame,

whose

pponent

ied n

a

fair

ight,

"victim"-

ven n the

moment

f

his

triumph.

oman lave revolts

were

uppressed

ith

avagery,

nd slave

blood

was

regarded

s worthless

lood;

thedocumentation

n

this s

quitegood.

A

slave's

high-priorityoal

of self-care

was

simply

ategorized

s

something

ifferentrom

citizen's

igh-priorityoal

of self-care,s somethingo unimportantt could be manipulatedo produce

entertainment.

ven if therewere

slaves

who

accepted

his

s

just,

do

not.

would

nsist

hat ach human ndividual's

apacity

or

ffort,

apacity

o

suffer,

be treated

ith

qual dignity.

ere use

examples

nvolving hysical

amage

r

endangerment,

ecause

hey

re asier o

characterize

n

a fewwords.

ut would

make

he ame

point

bout

nterpersonal

motional

onds,

nd the

uffering

ne

can

nflict

y

heir

manipulation.

eedless o

say,

t s a

challenge

o

describe hem

adequately.

owever,

would

ertainly

onsider

hework

xperience

n

an

early

nineteenth-century

otton-spinning

ill

s,

for

t least ome

workers,

form f

torture,nflictedhroughreedomf contract.

JP: s

the

amount

f

suffering

ltimately

etermined

y

the

make-up

f our

brain? ut

differently,

s there

ucha

thing

s "hard-wired"

oundaries o emo-

tional

avigation,

n absolute

imit

eyond

which

ufferingnvariablyegins?

Or

is

there nlimited

pace

for

ndividual nd

cultural

gency-

after

ll,

who

s to

decide

what

uffering

eansfor

givenperson

for

xample,

masochist)

r

a

given

ulture

for

xample,

ne

that

uts

premium

n

suffering,

uch

s an

order

of

self-flagellating

onks)?

WR: The

answer

o

this

uestion

s

implied

n

myprevious

esponses.

very-

things, na way, eterminedythemake-up fthebrain.nanotherense, he

answer o

this

uestion

emains

nclear. t seems o me

ikely

hat ommunities

have ometimes

rained

ndividuals,

ywell-organizedepetition

f situations

n-

volving

ntense

ain

or

physical

rauma,

o tolerate

uch

pain

and traumawith

only light

emotional

uffering,"

n

the

ense

f

goal

conflict.

ulius

aesar

obvi-

ously

had

many

uch

veterans

n

his

egions

when

he

finally

rossed

heRubicon.




11/30

246

JAN

PLAMPER

But,

s

with

Caesar's

legions,

he

raining

f such

persons enerally

nvolves

winnowingrocess.

hose

whocannot ustain he

process

all

by

the

wayside.14

JP:The

greatest

mount f emotional

iberty,

hen,

eems

o obtain

n

liberal,

democraticocietieswith trongminorityights. hat s, in the dealsociety f

many olitically rogressive

esterners.

sn't his

ircular?

WR:

would

ay

hat tremains

o

be seen

how

best

o

ensure hat ach

person's

capacity

or motional

uffering

s treatedwith

qual dignity.

f

some Western

democratic

egimes

ave come closerto this deal

than

arlier

uropean

mon-

archies r concurrententralizedocialist

egimes,

t has been at east n

part y

accident. here s

quite

a bit

of emotional

uffering

nvolved

n

conforming

o

thenorms f the

rational,

elf-interested

ndividual hat

hese

regimes,

n

prin-

ciple,

have etout o "liberate"

s if uch individuals" ere

given

n nature. he

amount f ufferingaries normouslyy ocioeconomictatus; yracial, thnic,

and

gender dentity;y

the conomic

onjoncture;

nd

n

accord

with

variety

of other

ircumstances.here re

over

a hundredhousand

chizophrenics

ho

live as

homeless

ersons

n

the treets f theU.S.

today,

withoutmedication

r

care-

just

to

take

ne

example.

JP:One

might

onder

whyyou

choseto first

ay

outa

specific

ognitive sy-

chological heory

femotions

nd

then o

say

that

certain

ype

f

polity

estfits

this

heory

ecause t llowsfor maximumfemotional

efuge, avigation,

nd

liberty,reating

minimum

f

suffering.

n

alternative ouldhave beento

first

spell utyour olitical-ethicalalues ndthenosaythat certain rand fcogni-

tive

psychology

est

fits

hese

olitical-ethical

alues.Whatdo

you

think?

WR:

My

intention

as been

to

find,

atherhan

o

ay

outa

priori,

mypoliti-

cal-ethical alues

through process

f critical

eading

f neuroscience

esearch,

motivated

y

sense

ffrustration

ith he

andscape

eft s

by

poststructuralism.

I

havetried o share his

rocess

with nterestedeaders.

JP:

n

my

view,

he architecturef The

Navigation f Feeling

follows wo

complementary

rinciples:

1)

dialectical nd

2)

in

thevein

of

deductive

ocial

science.

1)

Dialectical: irsthere s theuniversalisthesis

chapter

,

"Answers

from ognitive sychology"),hen he onstructionistntithesischapter,"An-

swersfrom

nthropology"),

hich s then

ufgehoben

n

a historical

ynthesis

of the motions

chapters

-3,

"Emotional

xpression

s a

Type

of

Speech

Act"

and

"Emotional

iberty").

2)

Deductive

ocial

science:

part

("What

Are

Emo-

tions?")

ays

out

the

heory,

hich s then

pplied

o "historical

ata" n

part

I

("Emotions

n

History:

rance,

1700-1850").

Anotherndication f

thebook's

social-science

feel" s its

mode

of

exposition,

hich s

lucid,

argon-free,

nd

bereftf

rony

r

postmodern

anguage ames.

Do

you gree

with his

escription

of

your

ook's

architecture?

WR: I agreewithyour haracterizationf thework s "dialectical," ith he

proviso

hat he

ynthesis

f

critical

eadings

fboth

sychological

nd

nthropo-

logical

research

ies

not

n

historical

nderstanding,

ut

n

the

oncept

f "émo-

tives,"

which

makes

history

femotions

hinkable.

do

not onsider hemethod

14.

For

a related

xample,

f.

Harvey

Whitehouse,

Rites of Terror:

motion,

Metaphor

nd

Memory

n

Melanesian nitiation

ults,"

Journal

f

the

Royal Anthropological

nstitute

(1996),

703-715.




12/30


13/30

248

JAN

PLAMPER

such a

profound nowledge

f

ife cience?

Do

you

recommendhatwe

all

go

there,

much ike

historians

uring

he

1970s

got

nto

emography

r

statistics,

nd

during

he

1980s nto

iterary

cholarship?

WR: I do notrecommendhat ll historiansmmerse hemselvesncognitive

psychology

r neuroscience

esearch.

owever,

t

s worth

oting

hat ociolo-

gists, olitical

cientists,

nd economistsre

actively eveloping

ubfields,

uch

as the

ne

called

behavioral

conomics,"

hat

ely

n

cognitive

euroscienceor

their esearch

aradigms.

do think hat he

discipline

f

history

ouldbenefit

n

similar

ashion.

tthe ame

ime,

also think hat t s a seriousmistake

o

simply

"utilize"

ncritically

heresults f research

n

this ield. he

reason

s that hese

results re

lways xpressed

n terms f

models

hat re

constructed

d

hoc.

There

is

no

general

model f

cognition

r of

brain

unctioning

hat istoriansan "bor-

row."There remany,manymodels; hey avetheir wn abs,conferences,nd

journals,

heir

wn

eaders nd

followers,

heir

wn "handbooks." ome

promi-

nent

ecentmodels

re

cascade

processing,"

mirror

eurons,"

emotion

egula-

tion,"

mental

ontrol,"

the hameleon

ffect,"

nd o on. Hundreds fstudies f

emotion-cognition

nteractionavebeenbuilt n the

well-known

Stroop

ffect,"

first

dentified

n the

1930s. How

these

variousmodels

fit

ogether

s a

subject

of

constant

iscussion

t conferencesnd

n

occasional

nthologies

f

synthetic

essays-

but see

no

sign

of

progress

oward

single,

verarching

heory.

ost

practitioners

re

acutely

ware

f

this

roblem.

ome of thesemodelshave

quite

differentpistemologicalmplicationsrom thers- nd this s significanthen

one tries o translateuch

model

foruse in

interpretive

ork-

Geisteswissen-

schaft-

'xch s

history.

JP:More

generally,

hatdo

you

think f theuse

of ife-sciencemotions e-

search

y

other istorians? hatdo

you

think

f

such

popularizers"

s Antonio

Damasio,

fthe

phenomenon

f

popularizing?

WR:

My

principal

rustration

ith

eading opularizers

s that

hey

ffer

can-

didate

heory

o

explain

he

trends

n

research

s if

this andidatewere

lready

recognized

s the

unchallenged,

ew

explanation

f brain nd mind

unctioning.

They ystematicallyownplayhe iversityf he esearch,norder oextrapolate

dramaticnswers rom selectnumber f

recent,

ashionable

reakthroughs.

JP:How do

you explain

he urrent

oom

n

the

history

f emotions?Would

you

call this

"turn"?

WR: I have been

very ratified

o

see the

growing

nterest

f historians

n

the

history

femotions

n

recent

ears. erhaps

t s

not

yet

"turn,"

ut t s

certainly

a trend. think

my riginal

easons

or

ttempting

o

move

n this

irection

dis-

cussed

bove)

havebeen

widely

hared.

JP:Which reas hould

heory-building

n the

history

femotions ocus n?

WR: Two "state f the rt" ecenttudies reBarbaraRosenwein's motional

Communities

n the

arly

Middle

Ages

nd

NicoleEustace'sPassion s theGale:

Emotion, ower,

nd the

Coming f

theAmerican evolution}* oth of

these

studies

xamine

ffortful

elf-management

and

ts

failures)

n

relationo

political

18. BarbaraH.

Rosenwein,

motional ommunities

n

the

arly

Middle

Ages

Ithaca,

NY: Cornell

University

ress,

006);

Nicole

Eustace,

assion s the

Gale:

Emotion, ower,

nd the

Coming f

he

American evolution

Chapel

Hill:

University

f North arolina

ress,

008).




14/30

THE

HISTORY OF EMOTIONS

249

power.

his s the ore ssue.

And,

s

your uestions

n

this nterview

ndicate,

great

eal needs o be

specified

more

learly

n

this rea.Both heoretical

eflec-

tion

ndresearch

ill

help.

JP: n which irectionhould hefutureistoryf emotionsmove?

WR:

I

hope

historians

ill

not

reat he

history

femotions

s a

special

ubfield

in the

tudy

f well-documentedristocratic

litesor educated lites.

Certainly,

we need to

study

etters nd

ournals,marriage

manuals,wills,

criminal ourt

records. ut

there s much

more

o the

history

f emotions.

n

the ase

study

f

civil

itigation

hat carried ut n

early

ineteenth-century

rance,

took

broad

swath f

materialshat ad

nothing

o do

with he

subjective"

ealm

r

"personal

life" s these re

conventionally

nderstood.found

ome

very urprising

ses

of

emotional

ocabulary

nd

expressive

modes

hat

ointed

oward therwise

nvis-

ible ssues- such s the apacity f awyersoexperiencemotions or heir li-

ents,

r he

vestiges"

f entimentalism

n

the

waypeople

f

he1 20s and

1

30s

thought

bout

enerosity

r ove.

The

history

femotions

s a

way

of

doing oliti-

cal,

social,

nd

cultural

istory,

ot

omething

o

be added o

existing

ields.

II. BARBARA H. ROSENWEIN

JP:

Let us start

ith n exercise

n ntellectual

utobiography.

ou

were

rained

as a

medievalistt

the

University

f

Chicago

n the ate

1960s

and

early

1970s,

and moved o thehistoryf emotionsnlyduringhe 1990s. How didyou get

there?

BR: I've

always

been

a historian

irst,

medievalist

y specialization.

here

is

a constant

n

my

ntellectual

areer hat

mayhelp explain

how

turned

rom

medievalmonasticism

o emotions:

have

always

been

nterested

n the

multiple

and sometimes

idden

meanings

n

human

hought,

ehavior,

nd institutions.

You

can see

this

n

my very

irst

rticle,

whichhad the

title Feudal

War and

Monastic

eace: Cluniac

Liturgy

s

Ritual

Aggression."19

y

second

rticle,

o-

authored

ith ester

K.

Little,

ook

up

the Social

Meaning

n theMonastic

nd

Mendicantpiritualities."20efore urningoemotions,wrote ooks n the on-

nection f Cluniac

monasticism

o ssuesof anomie

nd social

affiliation.21

nd

when looked

t medieval

mmunities,

hichwere

documents

ssued

by kings

to

prevent

heir wn

personnel

rom

ntering

ertain erritories

o

carry

ut

their

normal

uties,

considered

his ot

as

most

istorians

ad

done)

s

a

symptom

f

royal

weakness

ut athers

a

way

for

ulers o

proclaim

he ort f

power

hat s

inherent

n the

declarationf

tapu

taboo).22

19.BarbaraH. Rosenwein, FeudalWar and Monastic eace: CluniacLiturgys RitualAggres-

sion,"

Viator

(1971),

129-157.

20.

Barbara

H.

Rosenwein

nd

LesterK.

Little,

Social

Meaning

n

theMonastic

nd Mendicant

Spiritualities,"

ast and

Present,

o. 63

(1974),

4-32.

21.

Barbara H.

Rosenwein,

Rhinoceros

Bound:

Cluny

n

the Tenth

Century

Philadelphia:

University

f

Pennsylvania

ress,

982);

dem,

o Be the

Neighbor

f

St.

Peter:

The

Social

Meaning

ofClunyy

Property,

09-1049

Ithaca,

NY:

Cornell

University

ress,

989).

22. Barbara

H.

Rosenwein,

egotiating

pace:

Power,Restraint,

nd

Privileges f

mmunity

n

Early

Medieval

urope

Ithaca,

NY: Cornell

University

ress,

999).




15/30

250

JAN

PLAMPER

Emotions

re

often idden

n

thetexts hathistorians se.

To

be

sure,

ome

medieval ources re full f tears nd

raptures-

hese

nclude he hronicleshat

Johan

uizinga

rew

pon

when

peaking

f

the

xtravagant

assions

ftheLate

MiddleAges.23 ut on thewhole,historical ources redry-unlessyoulook

carefully

ere,

or

xample,

s

howone

tenth-century

harter

a

legal

document,

ratherike a modern

will)

began:

Dilectta

xoremea nomen

oddano,

go

. . .

Euraldus,

n

pro

hamore t

bona volencia ua

mihi

ene

servisti,

ropterea

ono

tibi

es

ui

sunt itas

n

pago

Matisconense,

n

hagro

Galuniacense,

n

villa

Castel-

lo;

in

primis

ono tibi

manso

ndominicato,

um omni

uperposito

el acienciis

suis"

"To

my

belovedwifeDoddana. ...

Euraldus,

utof ove and

good

will

for

you

who]

have

ervedme

well,

or his

eason

ive

o

you

properties

hat re

itu-

ated

n

the

agus

of

Mâcon,

n

the

ger

of

Jalogny,

n

the

villaofChâteau.

n

the

firstlace giveyou large statewith llupon ndconnected o t.")Historians

are trained

o use a text ikethis

o discuss he

people

nvolved

n

transactionss

wellas the

nature nd

ocation fthe

property.

ut

they

re

not

ncouraged

o

see

that he ext

lso contains onsiderable

vidence

f

feeling, voking,

s it

does,

a

"beloved"wife

o whom s

given gift

outof

ove and

good

will."

These are

normally

onsidered

ommonplaces

f

no

consequence.

ut

one

might

wonder

why

nd how such

things

ecame

commonplace."

t

might

ehooveus

to

take

such

expressions

f sentiment

eriously.

o

be

sure,

beloved" nd

"love" are

littlewords. ut

emotions reoften

xpressed riefly.

I

love

you"

s

a

very

hort

statement.owever,tcan haveremarkablempact.

In

fact,

myself

id

not ee the

motionsn

historical

ocuments

ntil was

alerted o

ook for hem.

his

happened

when

was asked

to comment

n three

papers- by

LesterK.

Little,

Richard

arton,

nd Paul

Freedman-

t a

session

organized

y

SharonFarmer t

the

American

istorical

ssociation

AHA)

in

1995 on "The

Social

Constructionf

Anger."

he

session

nspired

me

to

edit

bookon the

opic

Anger's

ast,

with

he hree HA

papers

onstituting

ts

ore),

andthe

ookmovedme

tothinkmore

eeply

bout

what

istoriansad- and

had

not- said

about he

roles, ses,

representations,

nd

transformations

f emotions

inhistory.24

JP:

n

2002

youpublished

n articlen

The

American

istorical

eview,

Wor-

rying

boutEmotions n

History,"

hat

ecame n

instantlassic.25n

the rticle

you

take ssue with

he inear

process

of emotional

ontrol hat

Norbert lias

posited

n

his

1939 The

Civilizing

rocess,

nd which

you

traceback

to Johan

Huizinga's

1919 The

Waning f

theMiddle

Ages

and

ultimately

o the

medieval

pathology

f

humors n the

one hand nd

to Darwin's

oncept

f

energy

n

the

other. n

Huizinga,

lias,

and

many

thers

from

ebvre

o

medievalist eter

Dinzelbacher),

motions

ehave ike

fluids,

eady

o come

nto he

pen ny

min-

23. See Johan

uizinga,

erfsttij

erMiddeleeuwen:

tudie ver evens- n

gedachtervormen

er

veertienden

vijftiende

euw n

Frankrijk

n de

Nederlanden

Haarlem:

jeenk

Willink,

919),

draw-

ing argely

n chroniclers

or

he

Burgundian

ourt,

uch s

Georges

Chastellain.

24.

Anger's

ast:

The Social Uses

of

an Emotion n

theMiddle

Ages,

d. BarbaraH.

Rosenwein

(Ithaca,

NY:

Cornell

University

ress,

998).

25. BarbaraH.

Rosenwein,

Worrying

boutEmotions n

History,"

merican

istoricalReview

107,

no. 3

(2002),

821-845.




16/30

THE

HISTORY OF

EMOTIONS

25

1

ute-

you

call this he

hydraulic

odel" f emotions.

an

youexplicate

he

hy-

draulicmodel or ur

readers?

BR: Robert olomon

had

already

alled the

unreasoning"

iew of the mo-

tions hydraulic."26he term erives rom view that eparates eeling rom a-

tional

hought,

n idea that ccordswith he

way

n which

motions

re often

subjectively

elt

for

xample,

I

was overcome

with

rief).

And,

s this

uote

about

grief uggests,

he

hydraulic

iew

corresponds

o

many

f our folk heo-

ries" about motions.

eorge

Lakoff

nd

ZoltánKövecses

have solated

many

of the

metaphors

sed

n

English

and

presumably

ther

anguages

s

well)

that

imply

hydrauliconception

f motions.

He was

bursting

ith

nger"

s a

com-

mon

hrase, uggesting

hat

nger

s ike

gas

under

ressure,

eady

oburst ut.27

"She

was

shaking

with ear"

uggests

hat

ear akes

ver

he

body

nd

agitates

it.28 hehydrauliciew of emotionswasgiven heoreticalallastbytheJames-

Langetheory,

nd

t s behind heFreudian

sychoanalyticoncept

f

affect.29

But t

s

important

o realize hat he

hydraulicheory,

owever

well t accords

with certain

ind f common

ense, s,

as Martha

Nussbaum

uts

t,

grossly

inadequate."30

bove

ll,

tdoes not

ake nto onsiderationhe

act hat motions

are about

hingsudged

mportant

o

us. Emotions verwhelm

s

only

because

something

as been

presented

o

us

or

happened

o

us thatmatterso our

sense

of

well

being:

motions

re theresult ur

values and our

assessments.

his fact

underlies

he

cognitive

heory"

f

emotions,

nd t

helps

us to

understandow

andwhy motionsre differentn differentocieties:nsofars bothvalues, nd

also the

objects/ideas

o

which hose

values

are

attached, iffer,

motions

for

example,

what

eopleget

angry

bout nd how

they

xpress

heir

eelings)

will

differ

s well.

JP:

Much of

your

work n

the

history

f

emotions

ince

your

1998

collec-

tion

Anger's

ast

might

e called

an extended-

ritical-

dialogue

with

heElias

paradigm,

hich

rgues

hat motions

were

direct,

mpulsive,

nd

explosive

n

the

Middle

Ages

and

became restrained"

nly

n the ixteenth

entury,

ith he

creation f

bsolute

ourts nd

the

civilizing"

f

mpulses

hat

hey mposed.31

n

recent earsyouhave lsocritiquedttemptsovalidate lias s civilizing rocess

26. Robert

.

Solomon,

The Passions

Garden

City,

NY: Anchor

ress/Doubleday,

976),

139-

150.

27.

See

George

akoff,

Women, ire,

nd

Dangerous

Things:

What

ategories

eveal

bout he

Mind

Chicago:University

f

Chicago

Press,

1987),

Case

Study

.

28. See

Zoltán

Kövecses,

motion

oncepts

New

York:

Springer,

990),

hap.

5.

29. See

William

James,

What s an Emotion?"

Mind

9,

no. 34

(1884),

198:

"Everyperception

must

ead to some

nervous

esult. f this e thenormal

motional

xpression,

t

soon

expends

tself,

and

n thenaturalourse

f

hings

calm ucceeds. ut

f he

normal

ssue

be

blocked

rom

ny

ause,

the urrents ayunder ertain ircumstancesnvade therracts,nd therework ifferentnd worse

effects."

ere motions

re ike

rivers;

fdammed

p,

they ttempt

o chart

new

course.

Muchthe

same

s true f

Freud,who,however,

eems o

prefer

model f

energy ischarge

atherhan fflow.

See

Sigmund

reud,

The Unconscious"

1915]

n

dem,

ollected

apers,

ransí. oan

Riviere

New

York:

Basic

Books,

1959),

V,

111:

"Affectsnd emotions

orrespond

ith

rocesses

f

discharge,

thefinal

xpression

f

which s

perceived

s

feeling."

30.

Martha .

Nussbaum,

pheavals

f Thought:

he

ntelligencef

Emotions

Cambridge,

K:

Cambridge

niversity

ress,

001),

25.

31 See

Rosenwein,

nger's

ast,

esp.

237-240.




17/30

252

JAN

LAMPER

with

peculiar

rand f

evolutionarysychology.32

t

present ou

are

writing

book

that

ttempts

o

replace

Elias s

paradigm

ith new narrative.

ould

you

go

back and retrace he

path

o

your

urrent

fforts

o refuteheElias

paradigm?

How, notherwords, asyour hinkingvolved n this ssue, nd wherewould

you

ituate

ourself

t themoment?

BR: I

should

rdinarily

ot

want o refute thesis

hatwas

produced

n the

1930s.

Rather,

would

prefer

o

appreciate

t for ts

contribution

t thetime f

its

writing. nfortunately,

lias s

theory

nderliesmost tudies

f

the

history

f

emotions one ven

oday.

or

modernists,

t

presents

convenientabula asa- a

sort f historicalstate f nature"-fromwhich

modernity,

ith ll its

complex-

ity,

an arise.

Medievalists,

n the ther

and,

aveeither

ccepted

lias's

theory

or have tried o

push

back the date of

"civilizing"-

from he sixteenth

o,

for

example, he welfthentury,ndsometimesven arlier.

In

my

first

ttempts

o

critique

lias I

thought

would succeed n

breaking

theholdof his

theory

y arguing

1)

that is

"hydraulicheory"

f emotions

as

incorrect,

nd thereforeis

whole

dichotomy

f

mpulse

s. restraint

ackedva-

lidity;

nd

2)

that estraintnd subtle

motions

n

general

were haracteristic

f

Western

ociety

ong

before he ixteenth

entury.

But

discovered

hat

he ure f a

grand

arrative

uch s Elias's

could notbe

vitiated

imply y aying

hattwas

ncorrect.

n

my

ookEmotional

ommunities

of

he

arly

Middle

Ages,

thereforeried

o substitutenew

narrative

aradigm-

involvinghifts rom ne"emotionalommunity"o another-nplaceof Elias's

bipartite

medieval/modern;

nrestrained/restrained)

eriodization.

utthe

period

covered

n

my

bookwas

so narrows to be

convincingnly

o

a

very

ew.

It

thus eems o me that

he

nlyway

to

open

the

history

f

emotions o a new

narratives

to write ne that

bridges

he

medieval/modernivide.This is

my

current

roject.

t is a

hugeundertaking.

ts

very mmensity

eads me

to admire

Elias's achievement-

hough

still

adically isagree

withhis

assumptions

nd

conclusions- ather ore han did

originally.

JP:

Yourbest-known

onceptual

ontribution

o

the

history

f

emotionss

the

notion f "emotional ommunities."ou introducedheconceptnyour2002

American

istorical eview rticle nd

fleshed

t

out

considerably

n

your

006

book

Emotional ommunitiesn the

Early

Middle

Ages?3

Can

you

recapitulate

for

ur

readers

what motional ommunities

re?

BR: I

am still

airly appy

with

he

definition

gave

n

theAmerican

istori-

cal Review:

motional ommunitiesare

precisely

he ame as

social communi-

ties-families,

neighborhoods,arliaments,uilds,

monasteries,

arish

hurch

memberships-

ut the researcher

ooking

t them

eeks above all

to uncover

systems

f

feeling:

what hese

ommunities

and

the

ndividualswithin

hem)

definend assess as valuable r harmfulothem; he valuations hat heymake

about thers'

motions;

henature

f

the

ffectiveonds etween

eople

hat

hey

32. See BarbaraH.

Rosenwein,

The Uses of

Biology:

A

Response

o J. Carter

Wood's

'The

Limits

f Culture?'"

ultural

nd

Social

History

,

no.

4

(2007),

553-558.

33. Cf.

Rosenwein,

motional

ommunitiesn the

Early

Middle

Ages,

sp.

20-29.




18/30

THE

HISTORY OF EMOTIONS

253

recognize;

nd themodesof emotional

xpression

hat

hey xpect, ncourage,

tolerate,

nd

deplore."34

More

recently

havetried o

pare

his dea down o ts ssentials.

hus,

have

summarizedhe dea as "socialgroupshat dhere othe amevaluations femo-

tions

nd how

they

hould e

expressed,"

nd,

n another

ontext,

s

"groups

f

people

nimated

y

common r

similar

nterests,

alues,

nd

emotional

tyles

nd

valuations."

JP:

May

I

also ask

you

to

recapitulate our

method: ow do

you go

about

practically,

tep-by-step,

dentifying

motional ommunities?

BR: The definition

uggests

hat

ny

social

group

with

ommon

nterestsnd

goals

should

qualify

s

an

emotional

ommunity.

ne would

ogicallypick

a

group

ndread

verything

hat tsmembers

rote,

arefully oting

he motions.

But what rethe motions? nd how should hey e evaluated? shallreturno

these

uestions.

Meanwhile,

e must dmit hat ot

very roup

hat xists r has existed

s

of

interesto

the

historian

nd that ome

groups

hat re

of

great

nterest ave

pro-

ducedrather

ittle n the

way

of

primary

ources,

while

ther

roups

re so

large

and/or

rolific

hat

hey ose

the

opposite

roblem.

n Emotional

ommunities

in

the

Early

Middle

Ages,

devoted ne

chapter

o the motional

ommunity

f

Pope

Gregory

heGreat

590-604),

even

though

had

only

his own

writings

o

work

with.

posited

hat

Gregory

rote or

particular

udience,

nd tried o

understandhe motional orms fthat roup hroughheoneset ofwritings-

Gregory's-

hat

xisted.

In

themodern

eriod,

with he dvent f

the

printing

ress

nd thediffusion

of

iteracy,

hehistorian

ay

wish

to

argue

hat whole

nation- an

"imagined

community"-

as

also

an emotional

ommunity.35

n

that

ase,

taking

ll

writ-

ten ources

nto ccount

wouldbe

impossible,

nd thehistorian

ust

ry

o

find

"representative

xamples."

uckily,

his

s

something

hatmodern

istoriansre

taught

o

do.

Once

you

have

your

exts

conversation with reddy et al on field history of emotions

Documents