ABSTRACT
The chief conception of the planetary emphasizes the explicit vision of the planet in the astronomic sense. That the concept of the planet or world can and must be conceived of as distinct from the globe is also acceded to by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak who situates the former “in the species of alterity.” A less territorial version of the planet is also associated with the space of the internet. The affective turn in humanities and social sciences became noticeable in the mid-1990s. Lauren Berlant configures an affectual organization of the world in her seminal work Cruel Optimism wherein she shows how optimism can be cruel when it comes in the way of ushering social change. Berlant shows how an attachment to the “fantasy of the good life” or a world to come, waiting for its near future, produces a moment of crisis of life-building. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
