In the mood for peace? Mood work and structures of feeling in the politics of peace education

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper puts in conversation Martin Heidegger’s concept of Stimmung (mood or attunement) with Raymond Williams’ notion of ‘structures of feeling’ to theorize ‘mood work’ in peace education. It is argued that the perspective of mood provides new insights in peace education that might be harder to grasp through the lens of affect or emotion, suggesting that mood is a term well suited to paying attention to longer duration of affective phenomena. In particular, mood work draws attention to the processes of affective (mis)attunement, that is, the successes and failures of individuals and groups to ‘fit the mood.’ The author offers a vignette from his ethnographic research to show the mood work conducted by a teacher in the context of a peace education initiative within a conflict-affected society. The analysis shows how mood work marshals bodies, objects, and feelings towards or away from particular political visions in peace education.