Introduction: Affective Arrangements and Violence in Latin America

Abstract

This introductory article sets out to review the applicability and productivity of affect as a high-impact concept in the humanities. With a particular focus on a cultural studies perspective, it evaluates the different strands in affect theory and surveys the most recent approaches in the field. The authors argue for adopting a relational approach, focusing on specific formations or “affective arrangements”, which considers affect as a site of convergence of different actors, discourses, media, etc. instead of an isolated process. The second section of the article provides a short overview of the study of violence in Latin Americanist scholarship and underscores the relevance of affective arrangements when studying the multiplicity of violences in cultural expressions from the region.