ABSTRACT

“Orders of feeling” are conceived in relation to the concepts of symbolic and normative orders. They refer to discursive formations that leave their marks on individual and collective appraisals of feelings, and they shape socially, culturally and politically proscribed feeling and display rules. Orders of feeling relate to societies, places, social groups and communities, and impact subjective experiences vis-à-vis institutionalized social or political hierarchies. They influence whether, how, with whom, where and when affects, feelings and emotions can be verbally articulated or visibly performed through gestures, mimicry, bodily postures, and positioning. Moreover, orders of feeling nurture belonging and exclusion. They ensure that individuals and collectives “fall in line” through more or less subtle societal, economic, legal, political, cultural, and affective arrangements.

The chapter begins with a discussion of established concepts in the study of subjective feeling and social structures. Subsequently, the chapter carves out an integrated perspective within the framework of a long-term anthropological case study in Indonesia. It concludes with an outlook on future research and relational and affectively aware methodologies.