Studying feelings in action: An analytical framework for empirical analyses of affect in sustainability transitions

Research on feelings and emotions has gained importance for understanding sustainability transitions in recent years. However, a central question remains unanswered: How precisely does affect influence the creation of change in sustainability transitions and which conditions shape this relation? This paper calls for detailed in-situ studies in which affect can be linked to changes in habits and practices. It proposes an analytical framework based on transactional pragmatism and inspired by dramaturgical analysis to facilitate future research on this topic. The Dramaturgical Analysis of Affect in Sustainability Transitions (DAAST) framework allows studying affect in the set-up and design of activities as well as the interactions of people, and how these conditions influence change in collective settings. The DAAST gives facilitators and intermediaries tools to understand affect in potentially conflictual settings such as transition arenas and urban experiments. The end of this paper discusses the uses, potential, and limitations of the framework.