Wonder as a Process of Digesting Affects: An Indigenous and Embodied Practice Towards Non-Judgemental Feeling
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2021-06-23
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en
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This article seeks to study why we judge people based on how affects ‘stick’ to ‘bad’ bodies as described by Sara Ahmed. Ahmed’s theory of sticky affects shows that affects ‘stick’ because people are stereotyped on the basis of differences such as their gender or race. People are judged because they differ from racist and sexist understandings of what’s ‘good’. In this way, bodies that are perceived to be different can make the perceiver feel negative feelings like anger or discomfort. Discrimination based on differences in race and gender should be questioned. This is because being made to feel like the source of negative feelings is harmful. I build on Ahmed’s theory of sticky affects by thinking about how affects become stuck to bodies. This enables me to explore how they can become unstuck. I show how judgements cause sticky affects, and thus show how judgements can be reduced by practicing affective wonder (camatkāra). So, I offer an Indian practice inspired from non-dual Śaiva Tantra (NŚT) for unsticking affects through camatkāra. My article contributes to studies that are attempting to overcome hierarchical relations that result from judging another as being inferior.
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Faculteit der Filosofie, Theologie en Religiewetenschappen