Relationality, Emotions and Affect in Education and Research: Through a Theory of Practice Architectures Lens

This chapter introduces readers to the relational aspects inherent in education, including the significance of emotions and affect in shaping human social interactions. It sketches why enlightenment ideals of the rational, autonomous subject have led to the neglect of the emotions and the affective realms in social sciences and how this neglect is being redressed in the social sciences. It introduces readers to the ‘practice turn’ and explains why this turn has important ramifications for how emotions and affect can be theorised in ways that move beyond the psychological, individual focus that predominates in educational research and practice. It then introduces the theory of practice architectures [TPA], explaining the links between TPA and the broader practice turn in social sciences and education. The theoretical evolution of TPA is mapped as are the contributions and gaps that occur when a TPA lens is employed to studies of the relational, emotional and affective aspects of educating and researching. The chapter concludes by detailing the contributions in the edited volume, foregrounding their important new contributions to studies of relationality, emotions and affect in education through a theory of practice architectures lens.