Public Emotions and the Affective Forces of Social Activism, Vol. 32 - 2025, No. 2
Affective Dynamics in #MyBodyMyChoice Memetic Performances on TikTok: Between Feminist Killjoys and Happy Feminism
The overturning of Roe v. Wade and the repeal of Germany’s abortion advertisement ban in June 2022 mark a momentous shift in the global landscape of reproductive rights, amplifying debates around abortion and bodily autonomy. In response, feminist activism, traditionally rooted in body politics and already well-adapted to the digital, has mobilsed across platforms. This paper investigates the affective dynamics of feminist digital activism on TikTok through the lens of affect theory and feminist media studies, examining how TikTok’s algorithmically driven, viral structure shapes the affective intensity of the mybodymychoice challenge and introducing affective registers to analyse how the platform’s multimodal affordances foster distinct types of memetic performances. Our findings reveal affective registers of joy, anger, shock, and solidarity circulating within the challenge, fuelling widespread, intense, yet ephemeral mobilisation while exposing the risk of political dilution. Through our typology of affective registers, we explore the tension between popular feminist performances of “happy feminism,” centred on joy and empowerment, and more confrontational “killjoy feminist activism.” This analysis sheds light on both the potential and limits of feminist mobilisation on TikTok, as the platform fosters affective solidarity while also commodifying affect and constraining sustained political engagement.
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The Dynamics of Emotional Attachments and Identity Formation within Protest Movements: Exploring Expressive Behaviours during the Nigeria’s Protests
This research explores the emotional dynamics across the phases of protests against violence committed by Nigeria’s Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). Our research explores how expressions on digital platforms and activists’ personal reflections reflect the changing emotions of protesters and how emotions evolve with the formation of collective identities. Through an analysis of Twitter posts using #EndSARS (October 2020), we explore how young Nigerians overcame ethnic and religious societal divisions and organised a coordinated campaign against police brutality, humiliation, corruption and deprivation. By mapping the emotions in Twitter posts chronologically, we find distinct phases of the protest reflected in the expressions of activists. Initially, the mood was frustration and sadness, but this evolved into anger as young Nigerians shared tales of injustice and victimhood. As the mood intensified a collective identity formed around one Nigeria. Despite fear of reprisals and repression Nigerians took to the streets and developed a bond of trust founded on expressions of shared identity and commitment. Support was gained within and beyond their immediate localities leading to an upsurge in joy and pride and the anticipation of success. Hence, we offer a model of emotional engagement in protest movements which can form hypotheses for future analysis.
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Emotions and Identities in Anti-Gender Contention: A Reinvention of Radical-Right Protest Culture
This article analyses the emotions evoked by the visual and performative mobilisation of the anti-gender movement through a case study of the March for Life in Zagreb, Croatia. Relying on theories of collective action investigating the role of emotional mobilisation in the public sphere, we argue that the anti-gender movement accentuates ritual practices that transcend the instrumental functions of protest and belong to a new, postmodern repertoire of identity expression traditionally reserved for left-wing movements. We examine the role of emotions in movement's collective identity formation using multimodal analysis and the participant observation method. First, we employ multimodal qualitative analysis on 600 posts from the actors’ Facebook page. Second, we analyse a poster of the March in depth, investigating its symbolic, rhetorical, and connotative meanings. Finally, we analysed the cultural logic of the March for Life and its kinaesthetic and symbolic aspects as participants, including music, signs, route, organisation, and artefacts. The paper argues that the movement's success is mainly due to its articulation of emotions, as it adopts the discourse, emotional tone, and performative elements of identity politics. The movement enables collective emotional expression to construct a positive participatory political identity rooted in an idealised vision of the heteronormative family.
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Affective Labour of Student Activism: A Study of Three Silence Breaks
This paper examines student activist initiatives combating gender-based violence within Czech higher education institutions. In particular, it explains how activists' affective labour is invested in the co-production of atmosphere surrounding gender-based violence within the affective arrangement of their university. Based on mixed-method research conducted amongst activists and their online and offline media and culture content, the findings of the multi-case study reveal how these initiatives break the silence around gender-based violence. As a result of their affective labour, the activists foster mutual aid based on care, solidarity and collaboration instead of the competition, individualism and harm within which the dominant masculine culture of science roots. The paper also considers the intersecting dynamics of this cognitive capitalism with the rise of anti-gender movements in Central and Eastern Europe, and the depoliticisation of higher education institutions. By addressing these structural forces, the paper contributes to ongoing debates on gender inequality in academia and, most importantly, resistance to systemic violence. Examining these resistances, it portrays the repoliticisation of the university in the context of gender-based violence as beneficial for academia's safety, sustainability, and resilience.
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Role of Emotions in Protest Participants’ Perception of Radical Performances: The Case of Gezi Protests in Turkey
Mass protests bring together protesters from different political, social, and cultural backgrounds who have different ideas on the right way to behave and make claims during a protest, which manifests itself in their perception and judgment of the actions, discourses, and identities of others in the mobilisation. This paper intends to study the emotional processes behind the perception of radical performances in contention by analysing data gathered from 17 in-depth interviews with the participants of the Gezi protests in Turkey in 2013. Its findings indicate that emotional considerations hold a central place in the process of perceiving the actions, discourses, and identities of others, as well as in defining what is radical. According to data, three categories of emotional consideration have visible interaction patterns with the perception of radical performances: the participants’ emotions towards the protests, their emotions towards the actors involved, and their emotions towards the act in question. Such patterns directly affect the chances of a participant embracing or rejecting a particular performance labelled as radical, whether it be an act of violence, a potentially provocative slogan, or the identity of a marginal group expressed in a moment of mass contention.
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Transnational Activism Bridging Post-Conflict Ethnic Divides: Collective Emotions of Environmental Struggles in the Western Balkans
Through qualitative, descriptive and exploratory research, including interviews and other qualitative data sources, this article addresses empirical and conceptual gaps in the existing literature on emotions in forming collective identity, social cohesion and resilience within contemporary (post-2000) transnational environmental activism in the (post) conflict Western Balkans. The research contributes to debates surrounding environmental activism and social movements and their role in conflict-affected societies. This article enhances understanding of how emotional contagion over shared environmental concerns facilitates cross-border solidarity, reconciliation and resilience in a (post) conflict society. Notably, contemporary transnational movements focused on preserving pristine rivers have maintained momentum for over a decade, successfully bridging political and ethnic divides. The article establishes that shared cultural narratives emphasising the neutrality of environmental causes, pride in natural heritage and emotions of grief and anger over ecological degradation, can effectively promote collective responses among historically hostile communities, positioning environmental activism as a means of dialogue, healing and cooperation. The article offers a new perspective on environmental activism, bridging historical divides, promoting long-term social stability and paving the way for sustainable development in conflict-affected areas.
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“No Oxygen No Justice”: The Politics of Collective Mourning and the Moral Shock of the Tempi Train Crash in Greece
The Tempi train crash of 28 February 2023, the deadliest railway disaster in Greece's history, prompted a large-scale wave of protests, initiated by student and trade unions, as well as grassroots collectives, with extensive participation from first-time protesters. The tragedy eroded public trust in key institutions and triggered debate on safety, government accountability, and privatisation, exposing systemic failures in Greece's railway infrastructure. Drawing on a nationwide survey of 634 participants aged 17–34, commissioned by the Eteron Institute and conducted by Aboutpeople in April 2023, this study examines the emotional and political responses of young people, with a particular focus on the March 2023 protests. The findings are analysed through the concepts of “moral shock” and “political mourning,” highlighting how grief was expressed and politically articulated through collective action that challenged depoliticisation narratives designed to evade broader accountability. The article further situates the March 2023 mobilisations within the broader justice campaign led by victims' families, tracing its evolution towards the largest public mobilisations to date, held on the second anniversary of the Tempi disaster— a pivotal moment in the ongoing pursuit of justice and prevention of what is widely perceived as an attempt to cover up the crime.
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Affective Authoritarianism and Anti-Government Protests: Demokracija’s Journalistic Narratives as Acts of “Making People Feel” in Authoritarian Ways
In 2020, the world faced a global state of emergency due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In Slovenia, the situation coincided with the formation of Janez Janša's government in March. Janša's rise to power—and the rapid introduction of Covid-19 measures that significantly restricted public and civic space—prompted widespread resistance, most visibly through grassroots initiatives such as the anti-government bicycle demonstrations, also known as the Friday Protests. During this period, private media outlets closely affiliated with Janša's Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), including Demokracija magazine and Nova24TV, played an active role in shaping the political discourse, also in relation to the protests. This paper examines the affective dimensions of journalistic narratives about the anti-government protests as published in Demokracija magazine between 1 March 2020 and 28 February 2021. Drawing on qualitative content analysis of 41 articles, the study explores journalistic narratives as acts of “making people feel.” It engages with the concept of affective authoritarianism, understood as a political process that simultaneously mobilizes and generates specific affective intensities, emotions, and atmospheres that render individuals more receptive to authoritarian values, attitudes, and practices. This perspective contributes to ongoing scholarly debates by highlighting the affective conditions that intensify authoritarianism within formally democratic states.
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