ABSTRACT
This chapter uses decolonial and posthuman perspectives to emphasise the centrality of emotions and affects in language education, especially in relation to issues of interculturality and global citizenship. The authors suggest that this can be done by combining intercultural citizenship theories with theories that recognise the central role of emotions and affects in pedagogy such as pedagogy of discomfort, pedagogy of hauntology, and a decolonising human rights education approach in general language teaching. While this combination is usually associated with conflict or post-conflict contexts or often limited to these settings, the authors argue that it can be expanded to other contexts. They suggest that in this way language education can create spaces for cultivating political, ethical, and social justice responsibilities for changing socially unjust societies. This focus is new in intercultural language education and research, and the authors claim that it broadens the theoretical, research, and pedagogic outlooks of the field. This contribution is evident in an empirical study located in Argentina – a setting through which the authors attempt to redress the under-representation of the South American region in the literature.
