Browsing by Subject "affektiivinen käytäntö"

The aim of this master’s dissertation was to look into the affective practices that took place and affected the work in the equality work groups at the university. In this study I will explain how through affective practices and layers the affects become entangled into the patterns of equality work shaped historically and culturally. In my theoretical approach I follow Sara Ahmed’s and Margaret Wetherell’s work and their understanding of affect, affective practice and emotion. I was working in an equality project at the University of Helsinki, and it seemed that certain regularities were affecting the equality work. I started to ask how to get a closer look of those regularities and patterns. I noticed that looking for affective practices could be the key to get a closer look into those patterns. I wanted to find out what possibilities the concept of affect could bring into the current research of equality work. I implemented my research by ethnographic observation and interviews in different groups that were working with the themes of equality and diversity in the faculty. I collected data during the semester 2018–2019, and interviewed three university employees. My methodological approach was post structural nomadic ethnography, which first and foremost meant constantly moving in the thought process. Uncertainty was present not only in the observation and interviews but also in the written report. I found that affective practices were present in all those places where equality was promoted. Especially the themes of individual-based expertise, silences, appreciation and goals of equality work collected several affective layers. Those layers had material consequences which I will further explain in this study. Based on my research equality work is rich in affective practices. Affects can be a force of change, but affective layers can also hinder the work with the regularities and patterns that follow affective practices. I have identified and named four affective layers, and studied the effects of those layers in the equality work groups of the university. The results of this study can be utilized in the further research and development of equality work.