Extending the framework. Towards a material History of the emotions

The history of emotions is a branch of knowledge currently in expansion. Born in the early 21st Century in English speaking countries, it has in recent years reached other cultural traditions. Despite its undeniable success, a critical approach is necessary in order to adapt it to these new cultural traditions it has reached. This implies a critical reading of its basic arguments and concepts, so as to complement and reinforce its theoretical approach, and improve its explanatory power. The present article proposes that a material history of emotions may be a fertile approach. In a previous paper, I pointed out the necessity of finding new sources for the history of emotions, specifically ones which would give access to the emotions of those sectors of the population which have not left behind any written evidence of their emotional experiences. The paper is structured as follows: First, I will introduce a theoretical approach based on the Material Culture Studies approach of the School of Anthropology at UCL as taught by Danny Miller. Secondly, I will present a definition of emotion as held by social psychology and thirdly, I will propose two specific research strategies: the cultural biography of things and spatial analysis. To conclude, I will sustain that the case study should be the research methodology of choice for a material history of emotions.