The Spatial Politics of Affect and Emotion in Participatory GIS

November 13, 2015

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This article examines how the authors’ participatory research with the Maijuna people of the Peruvian Amazon resulted in many positive, affective, and emotional results outside of the final map product. Although the project was initiated as an attempt to produce a map that the Maijuna could use in pursuit of land rights, methodological choices made by the authors also produced positive emotions in participants, political bonding, and community-wide education. This article argues that researchers should begin engaging in more affective and emotional thinking when constructing their research methodologies, to both improve the results of their project and to mitigate potential problems.

Young, J. C., & Gilmore, M.P. (2013). The spatial politics of affect and emotion in participatory GIS. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 103(4), 808-823.