Feeling the structures of Québec's 2012 student strike at Concordia University: The place of emotions, emotional styles, and emotional reflexivity

• Published in: Emotion, space and society space and society, 2021-08, Vol.40, p.100809, Article 100809
• Main Author: Hausfather, Nadia
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Affect; Belonging; Emotion; Emotional reflexivity; Emotional style; Place; Space; Student strike
• ISSN: 1755-4586; 1878-0040
• DOI: 10.1016/j.emospa.2021.100809

Based on experiences of geography students at Concordia University in Montreal, Québec, who participated in the provincial unlimited general student strike in 2012, this article explores how the physical and symbolic spaces of the university were key in determining these strike participants' emotional experiences, particularly confusing for being wrapped up in the collegial context. The relevance of emotions and affect in social movements has gained attention in the past decades in the geography literature, yet the latter has tended to focus on autonomous politics or on the streets where these strike participants or other protestors gathered. Complementing such scholarship, I highlight how a specific place -the site of the university, the geography department, and the student association structures housed within them- affected these strike participants' emotional experiences and styles via the materialities and emotional expectations of, as well as feelings of belonging to, that place. By focusing on the emotional geography of an academic department and institution during this tumultuous time, this article seeks to widen our understanding of emotional dynamics, emotional styles, and emotional reflexivity for diverse activist positionalities in a setting akin to a more traditional ‘workplace’: the place of study where this strike emerged, the educational institution. •The space and structures of the university affected strike participants' emotions.•Confusing university dynamics led to despair, repression of anger among picketers.•Sense of belonging to the department contributed to a particular ‘emotional style’.•Emotional reflexivity was helpful, yet insufficiently varied and intersectional.•Marginalized strike participants faced particularly difficult emotional experiences.