ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces atmospheres, which will become one of the crucial sites for both sovereignty and for the social and political potential of the state of unrest. It aims to introduce a material account of affect, underlining the manner in which sovereignty can operate affectively from the background. The key function of the Park Service’s intervention was to protect ‘an atmosphere of calm, tranquillity and reverence’. Ben Anderson and James Ash’s beautiful reflection on the ambiences and atmospheres of an Accident and Emergency waiting room in the United Kingdom is a useful counterpoint. Affective atmospheres are everyday material events. However, they tend to hide or dissimulate themselves. The atmosphere of sovereignty at the Jefferson Memorial operates from the background to shape the feelings that should surround the state’s foundation. Most atmospheres appear natural and given, but they are in fact extremely fragile.
