History’s Affect

As a noun, “affect” refers to “the conscious emotion that occurs in reaction to a thought or experience.” Can—should—the parts of human experience traditionally excluded from “rational” thought like emotion, conscious or not, inform the discipline and practice of history? Resolute adherents to scientific positivism would say no, but some feel otherwise.

Photo: Luc/Flickr/CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. Image cropped.

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April 2024 Cover

Staff

L. Renato Grigoli, editor
Laura Ansley, senior managing editor
Lizzy Meggyesy, research and publications assistant
Alexandra F. Levy, communications director
Liz Townsend, manager, data administration and integrity