Theorising Emotions and Affect Through a Practice Architectures Lens: The Emotional Labour of Australian Public-School Principals

Despite the turn to affect in humanities and in some social sciences disciplines, the role of emotions and, latterly, affect has been under-explored in practice theories. The theory of practice architectures has reflected this lacuna. The aim of this chapter is to address this omission, by extending Wilkinson’s (Educational leadership through a practice lens: Practice matters. Springer, 2021) scholarship on the role of emotions and affect in the theory of practice architectures. In advancing this aim, the chapter draws on school leaders’ testimonies of critical incidents, as part of a large-scale study of Australian public school principal’s emotional labour. The central argument of the chapter is that a more productive focus for theorising emotions and affect in practice architectures should centre on the work that emotions and affect do in practice, rather than where they belong in practice theorising. Hence, in the chapter’s exploration of public-school principals’ critical incident testimonies, the authors ask, what work are emotions and affect carrying out in these practices? What are the implications of this labour for the affective relationalities of actions and their productive or harmful effects? The chapter concludes with a discussion of the implications for theorising emotions and affect in the theory of practice architectures.