Spaces of Affectivity: Innovating Interdisciplinary Discourse In Open, "Free" Space

• Main Authors: Mills, Mary, Speake, Janet
• Format: text
• Published: Archīum Ateneo 2024
• Subjects: cross-disciplinarity; dialectics; geohumanities; identity; spatiality; third space
• Online Access: https://archium.ateneo.edu/kk/vol1/iss36/3; https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/kk/article/1858/viewcontent/KK_2036_2C_202021_203_20Regular_20Section_20__20Mills_2C_20Speake.pdf
• Institution: Ateneo De Manila University

This essay presents a reflective narrative on an innovative approach taken to create an open, “free” space in which to share ideas and discuss the theme “Spaces of Affectivity” across the disciplines of arts, humanities, and geography with a focus on the exploration and negotiation of socio-spatial cultural productions of identity. These reflections are based on the planning of two symposia held in 2014 and 2015 under the title Spaces of Affectivity at Liverpool Hope University with the remit of encouraging scholars to stand in their own space and engage with cross-disciplinary discourse. What emerged was a deepening awareness of cross-disciplinary commonalities of spatial discourse that can lead to interfaces between material experience and the human imagination. At its heart is a truly spatial matter which shows the importance of paying careful attention to the mutually influencing forces of human embodiment and the contextualizing environment of nature and cosmos.