ABSTRACT

The chapter discusses bodies and in relationship with other bodies like animal-bodies, thing-bodies, plant-bodies that help to understand their own individual grief, suffering and mourning, as interconnected with the degradation of the planet, a continuum of alienation that has reached epic proportions. Going beyond domestic animal relations, and personal connections with nature, others have written about the links between human-centred grief and collective grief at the devastation of the planet. Some also theorise and collectivise about public grief, collective mourning, and an activist affect in which are all caught up. Richard Anderson says that grief is the heart of the modern age and human ravaging of the planet. In Cultural Politics of Emotion, Sara Ahmed discusses public grief, arguing that not all grief, not all public losses, are equal. Ahmed explores public grief and other emotions as a shared object, drawing on Max Scheler’s differentiation between communities of feeling and fellow-feeling.