Relationality, Emotions and Affect in Education and Research

This book examines the more intangible—relational, emotional and affective—aspects of educating and researching as conceptualised through the theory of practice architectures. It also extends the theory of practice architectures, and in particular, the ‘relatings’ aspect of practice, to more fully encompass the relational, affective and emotional aspects of educating and researching. This book advances scholarship in practice theory, foregrounding the crucial role played by emotions, affect and the relational aspects of educating in the evolution of educational and researching practices. Educating and researching are intensely relational practices. Yet, despite a major turn to the emotions and affect in the social sciences, and laterally in education, the emotional and affective aspects of practice theorising have been largely overlooked/minimised. This book aims to redress this absence through a particular focus on the relational aspects of educational and researching practices, encompassing the domain of affect and emotions. Although the theory of practice architectures conceptualises practices as sites of the social through the notion of practices actualised in the sayings, doings and relatings of a practice, the relational, the emotional and affective aspects of the theory remain somewhat underdeveloped. This book addresses this gap and in so doing, makes a key contribution to practice theory development.