Emotions and U.S. Foreign Policy: An Exploratory Seminar Series -- Nicole Eustace

Emotions and U.S. Foreign Policy: An Exploratory Seminar Series


An invitation to participate in our last session of the seminar with Nicole Eustace on Friday, May 12 from 12-2pm (EDT). Our discussion will focus on her remarkable work on emotions in the early United States.


Why this series?


A number of historians in Canada have been developing a collaborative project exploring the relevance of emotions to U.S. foreign policy. We believe strongly that recent scholarship on emotions significantly enriches analysis

of policymaking and public perceptions – by moving, for example, beyond the strictly cognitive processes that animate Realpolitik perspectives. We also believe that this so-called “emotional turn” has the potential to be even more powerfully transformative to understandings of both past and present developments.


We have now started to expand our conversations to include others. Our first two sessions featured Frank Costigliola, who delved into the emotional life of George Kennan, and Andy Rotter, who explored the importance of the senses in empire (recordings can be made available to registered participants). Our next session with Nicole Eustace promises to bring similarly fascinating insights drawn from her work in the terrain of emotions history. Our hope is that these Zoom conversations will not only draw in others who are open to being informed and even inspired but also allow us to create a group (a network?) of scholars whose individual and collaborative efforts might move in exciting directions.


Each two-hour seminar begins with a presentation by the guest speaker, moving from comments about a brief reading “assignment” (distributed in advance) to reflections on the speaker’s experiences and insights regarding emotions history. The bulk of the session then involves Q&A and discussion of both the speaker’s work and wider-ranging issues related to the relevance of emotions to U.S. foreign policy-making.


Although the focus of the series is on the past and potential contributions of historians, the organizers want to emphasize that their own preceding explorations have been richly informed by the work of political scientists, sociologists, anthropologists, psychologists, and feminist scholars. Students and scholars from a range of fields are very welcome in what is likely to remain a multi-disciplinary endeavor.


Participation in the seminar series is free, though registration is required. (This will allow distribution of readings and communication regarding ongoing seminar activities – including additional sessions in the future.) Spaces will be limited to facilitate conversation. Please send your questions to matthieu.vallieres@utoronto.ca. Register by visiting: https://forms.gle/daamEaUb83Mus1dk6


This series is organized in cooperation with the Centre for the Study of the United States at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy/University of Toronto. Members of the organizing group include: Will McFadden, Will Riddell, Ron Pruessen, Candace Sobers, Matt Vallieres (Chair).