"Affective Labor as the Lifeblood of a Commons," though not at the next 5 o'clock network.

Funny how topics like affective labor never make it to one of those One Southern Indiana daisy-chain mixers at Kye's, with Bud Light, Papa John's and lots of desperate slobbering. It's a really good read, but does the Southern Indiana business community read?

Affective Labor as the Lifeblood of a Commons, by David Blooier

We have so internalized the logic of neoliberal economics and modernity, even those of us who would like to think otherwise, that we don’t really appreciate how deeply our minds have been colonized. It is easy to see homo economicus as silly. Certainly we are not selfish, utility-maximizing rationalists, not us! And yet, the proper role of our emotions and affect in imagining a new order remains a murky topic.

That’s why I was excited to run across a fascinating paper by Neera M. Singh, an academic who studies forestry at the University of Toronto. Her paper, “The Affective Labor of Growing Forests and the Becoming of Environmental Subjects” focuses on “rethinking environmentality” in the Odisha region of India.