Leyla and Mahmood - Emotions in Social Science Education

Abstract

Purpose: The paper explores what emotions do in social science education through two specific cases and discusses the relation between emotion and politicization in the subject education.

Method/Approach: The cases are selected from an on-going dissertation project that uses interviews, video and observations in examining how social science education is played out in practice, with a focus on the students. Inspired by Sara Ahmed, emotion is seen as relational.

Findings: Seeing emotions as relational makes it possible to capture a dynamic in the classroom that brings a complexity to a discussion on social science education. There is a relation between emotion and politicization; in the two cases, emotion signals that a subject matter or situation is contested.