The history of emotions

by Rob Boddice

This book introduces students and professional historians to the main areas of concern in the history of emotions. It discusses how the emotions intersect with other lines of historical research relating to power, practice, society and morality. Addressing criticism from within and without the discipline of history, the book offers a rigorous defence of this new approach, demonstrating its potential centrality to historiographical practice, as well as the importance of this kind of historical work for our general understanding of the human brain and the meaning of human experience.

Genres: History, Emotion, Psychology, Anthropology, Nonfiction

264 pages, Paperback

Published December 28, 2017

About the author

Rob Boddice (PhD, FRHistS) is a Senior Researcher at HEX, Tampere, Finland. He has previously held positions at Harvard University, McGill University, the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, and Freie Universität Berlin, and has been funded extensively by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the Horizon2020 programmes of the European Commission. Boddice has published widely in the history of medicine, the history of science and the history of emotions. His recent books include The Science of Sympathy: Morality, Evolution and Victorian Civilization (University of Illinois Press, 2016), Pain: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2017), The History of Emotions (Manchester University Press, 2018), and A History of Feelings (Reaktion, 2019). With Mark Smith he has written Emotion, Sense, Experience (Cambridge University Press, 2020), and his Humane Professions: The Defence of Experimental Medicine, 1876-1914 (Cambridge University Press) will be published in 2021. Boddice serves on the editorial board of the history-of-emotions book series at Bloomsbury Academic, and on the editorial board of Emotion Review. At HEX he is beginning an experiential history of placebo and completing a four-volume set on scientific knowledge production in the long nineteenth century called Experiment, Expertise, Experience (Routledge, 2022).

Reviews

[Emiliya Bozhilova · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF@35%
Чия е историята и кого осветлява тя - обектите си на представяне, или самите историци? Вторите никак не са за подценяване. Историята на най-древния Рим, описана от първите римски историци, например, по днешните стандарти често е фентъзи. Защото описва желаното минало и какви добродетели съответният историк е смятал за необходими за своето време, та ги е проектирал на безопасно разстояние, а именно - в миналото. Средновековните хроникьори пък представят много събития в зависимост кой владетел им плаща и какви са целите му. Общопризнати авторитети от миналото пък днес са само част от много по-богат пейзаж. Та вероятно същото е било и с емоциите и възприятията - те, макар и универсални в същността си, имат различни проявления и резултати в различни епохи и култури, и са оформяли различни исторически ландшафти.

С радост грабнах заглавие, което да погледне на историята през оформящите я емоции (да, те са също творци), които на свой ред да вплетат различни значения и идеи в голямото платно (или поне в няколко по-малки платна). Както казваше баба ми - йок. Авторът е решил да разсъждава в стил “кон над празна ясла”, за да намери “под вола теле”. Разбирай: общи приказки и цитиране през две изречения кой какво бил казал, докато накрая клетият читател (в случая аз), не започне да рие с копито на свой ред кога най-сетне авторът ще си дойде на думата. Отговорът е - никога. На това явно му се вика “академизъм” в стил “тоя каза, после оня каза, аз нищо не казах, и слава на боговете - лекцията по темата свърши”.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Emotions are at once the effects of historical circumstances and a cause of their change."

A wonderful introduction to the historiographic study of emotions, I look forward to reading more by Boddice. His scope is extremely expansive, ranging across time periods, literary history, scientific studies and academic disciplines. The book is a testament to the importance of studying the history of emotions and makes a very impressive contribution to the field.

[Ted Richards · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic overview of the historiography behind the use of emotions as a category of historical analysis. This book sets out its objectives early on, hits all the beats its want to and competently prepares the reader for further reading into this history.

One important note would be that if you are looking for a history of emotions, as in, how emotions have changed through time and their role in world history, this is not that book. Instead, this marvelously well written book is a history of how emotions have been used to study history. It evaluates how historians have categorized, analyzed and presented emotions from historical sources. Therefore, it would be good on any historiography module's reading list, and is written to be accessible for anyone from undergraduate level and above.

There is a lot to like about this approach, as it grounds the study of emotions in history with stronger academic authority. It also collapses many previously held narratives around emotions, from nineteenth century metanarratives to psychohistory and the Annales school. In the later part of the book, Boddice eloquently puts forward his own insights into the history of emotions and makes this book all the better for it.

[Ela Ünler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Duygulara olan özel ilgim dolayısıyla çok beğenmiş olabilirim ama çevirinin niteliği ve konunun zevkli anlatımı bu alanda okuma yapmak isteyenleri de ilgilendirebilir. Ben çok sevdim baş ucu kitabım olacak

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thorough overview of the field as it stands, with thematic approaches outlined in clearly organized chapters. I confess, I find the abstraction of the concept a bit hard to wrap my brain around. And I wish there were more references to non-Western works. But that's a problem with the field, not with the book.