Feeling communities: Introduction
Open accessAbstract
Scholarly literature for long only mentioned emotions in passing, although they were ubiquitous in the sources. This article argues that including them systematically can enhance our understanding of groups and communities, if emotions are historicised, and if the unproductive ways to read them as the opposite of interest and rationality are overcome. This allows to investigate emotions in a way which sees the relationship between the experience of emotions, their expression and the practices to which they lead not as a temporal sequence leading from an interior arousal of emotions to their exterior manifestation (or not). Instead, it investigates the interaction continuously moving in both directions—from emotions felt to emotions expressed, but also from the expression and performance as well as the interpretation of emotions back to how a certain emotion is actually felt. The first section shows where a systematic emotion history might either provide a new take on questions that have already been asked or raise new questions. The second section offers an overview of the ways in which collective emotions have been conceptualised and elaborates how this can be linked to the creation of emotional communities. The third section addresses the relationship between face-to-face communities and mediated communities.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Feelings are at the basis of the creation of communities.
“As Margrit Pernau has argued, feelings – contested, controversial, and marked by power – “are at the basis of the creation of communities” (Pernau 2017: 9).”
From Communities of Absence: Emotions, Time, and Buddhism in the Creation of Belonging (2021) · cites this paper as Pernau 2017
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism
Sears, L. J., & Anderson, B. (1994) · Journal of the American Oriental Society · doi:10.2307/604991 · Cited by 12,508 · see citing works
The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling
Tropman, J. E., & Hochschild, A. R. (1984) · Journal of Policy Analysis and Management · doi:10.2307/3324333 · Cited by 8,747 · see citing works
Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology
Poggi, G. (1969) · Sociology · doi:10.1177/003803856900300342 · Cited by 6,845 · see citing works
Deleuze, G. (1994) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.32-1461 · Cited by 6,722 · see citing works
Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions
Nussbaum, M. C. (2001) · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511840715 · Cited by 4,347 · see citing works
The crowd: A study of the popular mind.
Bon, G. L. (1908) · T Fisher Unwin eBooks · doi:10.1037/10878-000 · Cited by 2,042 · see citing works
The Ethical Soundscape: Cassette Sermons and Islamic Counterpublics
Hirschkind, C. (2006) · Cited by 1,990 · see citing works
Reddy, W. M. (2001) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511512001 · Cited by 1,469 · see citing works
SCHEER, M. (2012) · History and Theory · doi:10.1111/j.1468-2303.2012.00621.x · Cited by 1,176 · see citing works
(2006) · Jagiellonian University Repository (Jagiellonian University) · Cited by 1,098 · see citing works
Inventing Human Rights: A History
Rakfeldt, J. (2008) · Psychiatric Services · doi:10.1176/appi.ps.59.2.215 · Cited by 883 · see citing works
Compassion: The Basic Social Emotion
Nussbaum, M. C. (1996) · Social Philosophy and Policy · doi:10.1017/s0265052500001515 · Cited by 688 · see citing works
Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age
Bayly, S. (1999) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/chol9780521264341 · Cited by 635 · see citing works
Cassette culture: popular music and technology in north India
(1993) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.31-1438 · Cited by 635 · see citing works
Encountering affect: capacities, apparatuses, conditions
Maclaren, A. S. (2015) · Social & Cultural Geography · doi:10.1080/14649365.2015.1078146 · Cited by 602 · see citing works
Tambiah, S. J. (1996) · University of California Press eBooks · doi:10.1525/9780520918191 · Cited by 597 · see citing works
Emotionology: Clarifying the History of Emotions and Emotional Standards
Stearns, P. N., & Stearns, C. Z. (1985) · The American Historical Review · doi:10.2307/1858841 · Cited by 563 · see citing works
Gandhi’s Truth: On the Origins of Militant Nonviolence
Deschner, D. (1970) · Pacific Affairs · doi:10.2307/2753875 · Cited by 473 · see citing works
Mirrors of violence : communities, riots and survivors in South Asia
Das, V. (1992) · Oxford University Press eBooks · Cited by 457 · see citing works
Ethnicity and Nationalism: Theory and Comparison.
Nandi, P. K., & Brass, P. R. (1995) · International Migration Review · doi:10.2307/2546808 · Cited by 453 · see citing works
Towards a Theory of Collective Emotions
von Scheve, C., & Ismer, S. (2013) · Emotion Review · doi:10.1177/1754073913484170 · Cited by 299 · see citing works
The Hindi Public Sphere 1920-1940: Language and Literature in the Age of Nationalism
Orsini, F. (2009) · Center for International and Regional Studies (Georgetown University) · doi:10.1093/acprof%3aoso/9780198062202.001.0001 · Cited by 280 · see citing works
The Myth of the Multitude, or, Who's Afraid of the Crowd?
Mazzarella, W. (2010) · Critical Inquiry · doi:10.1086/655209 · Cited by 198 · see citing works
Cosmopolitan thought zones : South Asia and the global circulation of Ideas
Bose, S., & Manjapra, K. (2010) · Cited by 181 · see citing works
(2014) · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199659180.001.0001 · Cited by 178 · see citing works
Verkaaik, O. (2004) · Princeton University Press eBooks · doi:10.1515/9780691187716 · Cited by 169 · see citing works
The Bengal Muslims, 1871-1906 : a quest for identity
Ahmed, R. (1981) · Cited by 169 · see citing works
Caste and Social Stratification Among Muslims in India
Ahmad, I. (1978) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 164 · see citing works
American Cool: Constructing a Twentieth-Century Emotional Style.
Marsh, M., & Stearns, P. N. (1995) · The American Historical Review · doi:10.2307/2170128 · Cited by 161 · see citing works
Crowds, psychology, and politics, 1871-1899
(1993) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.30-4703 · Cited by 155 · see citing works
Resisting Regimes: Myth, Memory and the Shaping of a Muslim Identity
Metcalf, B. D., & Mayaram, S. (1999) · The American Historical Review · doi:10.2307/2649605 · Cited by 154 · see citing works
The construction of religious boundaries: culture, identity, and diversity in the Sikh tradition
(1995) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.32-5607 · Cited by 144 · see citing works
Putting Emotions in their Place
Calhoun, C. J. (2001) · University of Chicago Press eBooks · doi:10.7208/chicago/9780226304007.003.0003 · Cited by 136 · see citing works
Bénéï, V. (2008) · Stanford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1515/9781503627154 · Cited by 129 · see citing works
Salmela, M. (2012) · Philosophical Explorations · doi:10.1080/13869795.2012.647355 · Cited by 120 · see citing works
The sentinels of culture : class, education, and the colonial intellectual in Bengal (1848-85)
Bhattacharya, T. (2005) · Cited by 113 · see citing works
Gandhi's Rise to Power. Indian Politics 1915-1922
Sternbach, L., & Brown, J. M. (1973) · Journal of the American Oriental Society · doi:10.2307/600212 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
Reliving Karbala: Martyrdom in South Asian Memory
Hyder, S. A. (2006) · Cited by 84 · see citing works
Ritual and Religion Among Muslims in India
Ahmad, I. (1981) · Cited by 71 · see citing works
Learning how to feel: children's literature and emotional socialization, 1870–1970
Sanders, V. R. (2015) · Journal of Gender Studies · doi:10.1080/09589236.2015.1005975 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Family, Kinship and Marriage Among Muslims in India
Ahmad, I. (2020) · Cited by 54 · see citing works
The Construction of Communalism in Colonial North India.
Metcalf, B. D., & Pandey, G. (1992) · The American Historical Review · doi:10.2307/2164905 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Pinault, D. (2001) · Palgrave Macmillan US eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-137-04765-6 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Modernization and Social Change Among Muslims in India
Ahmad, I. (2020) · Cited by 36 · see citing works
EMOTIONAL TRANSLATIONS: CONCEPTUAL HISTORY BEYOND LANGUAGE
PERNAU, M., & RAJAMANI, I. (2016) · History and Theory · doi:10.1111/hith.10787 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Self-citationThe Politics of Muslim Rage: Secular Law and Religious Sentiment in Late Colonial India
Stephens, J. D. (2013) · History Workshop Journal · doi:10.1093/hwj/dbt032 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Collective Action and Community: Public Arenas and the Emergence of Communalism in North India
Dannhaeuser, N., & Freitag, S. B. (1991) · Ethnohistory · doi:10.2307/482383 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
“No Power of Speech Remains”: Tears and Transformation in South Asian Majlis Poetry
Bard, A. (2005) · Princeton University Press eBooks · doi:10.1515/9780691190228-010 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
A national flag for India: rituals, nationalism and the politics of sentiment
Virmani, A. (2008) · HAL · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Pictures, Emotions, Conceptual Change
Rajamani, I. (2012) · Contributions to the History of Concepts · doi:10.3167/choc.2012.070203 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Langewiesche, D. (2012) · Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft · doi:10.1007/s11618-012-0301-0 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Sacred Play: Ritual Levity and Humor in South Asian Religions
Bornet, P. (2011) · Numen · doi:10.1163/156852711x577113 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 4
- Bard, A. 'Desolate Victory: Shi'i Women and the Marsiyah Texts of Lucknow', PhD Dissertation, Columbia University, 2002.
- Chakrabarty, D. 'Witness to Suffering: Domestic Cruelty and the Birth of the Modern Subject in Bengal', in Timothy Mitchell, ed., Questions of Modernity, Minneapolis, 2000, pp. 49-96.
- Gammerl, B. (ed.), Rethinking History. The Journal of Theory and Practice, Special issue: Emotional Styles-Concepts and Challenges, Vol. 16 (2), 2012.
- Ricoeur, P. 'Time and Narrative: Threefold Mimesis', in Paul Ricoeur, ed., Time and Narrative, Chicago, pp. 52-87.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
From social drama to political performance: China’s multi-front combat with the Covid-19 epidemic
Liu, J. (2020) · Critical Asian Studies · doi:10.1080/14672715.2020.1803094 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Maqsood, A. (2021) · American Ethnologist · doi:10.1111/amet.13000 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Feeling religious – Feeling secular?Emotional styleas a diacritical category
Binder, S. (2021) · South Asian History and Culture · doi:10.1080/19472498.2021.1878781 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
The Aesthetics and Emotions of Religious Belonging: Examples from the Buddhist World
Baffelli, E., Caple, J., McLaughlin, L., & Schröer, F. (2021) · Numen · doi:10.1163/15685276-12341634 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Why Historic Places Matter Emotionally
Madgin, R. (2025) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781009349413 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Feeling Apart: Relations of Belonging in Tibetan Buddhist Lay-Monastic Communities
Caple, J. (2021) · Numen · doi:10.1163/15685276-12341636 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Mansour, L. (2024) · Higher Education · doi:10.1007/s10734-024-01315-w · Cited by 7 · see citing works
‘Our (Civil) Way of Life’: The Folkloric Civil Sphere
Shoham, H. (2022) · Cultural Sociology · doi:10.1177/17499755221124793 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Communities of Absence: Emotions, Time, and Buddhism in the Creation of Belonging
Baffelli, E., & Schröer, F. (2021) · Numen · doi:10.1163/15685276-12341635 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“As Margrit Pernau has argued, feelings – contested, controversial, and marked by power – “are at the basis of the creation of communities” (Pernau 2017: 9).4 As an analytical concept, “feeling communities” unites two coconstitutive aspects: as much as emotions are formative of communities they are…”
BackgroundOf Music and the Maharaja: Gender, affect, and power in Ranjit Singh's Lahore
Kapuria, R. (2019) · Modern Asian Studies · doi:10.1017/s0026749x18000446 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Disaffection as refusal: affective injustice and the politics of unfeeling in pedagogies of nation
Zembylas, M. (2025) · Pedagogy Culture and Society · doi:10.1080/14681366.2025.2524506 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Edgar, B. L., Gorin, V., & Moruno, D. M. (2022) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-00824-5 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Crisis? What Crisis? Making Humanitarian Crises Visible in the History of Emotions
Moruno, D. M. (2022) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-00824-5_1 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Kreienbaum, J. (2023) · New Global Studies · doi:10.1515/ngs-2022-0055 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Anger and Atonement in Mughal India: An alternative account of Akbar's 1578 hunt
Talbot, C. (2021) · Modern Asian Studies · doi:10.1017/s0026749x21000172 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Whose emotions? Boundaries and boundary markers in the study of emotions
Mitchell, L. (2021) · South Asian History and Culture · doi:10.1080/19472498.2021.1878786 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Elisabeth Eidenbenz’s humanitarian experience during the Spanish Civil War and Republican exile
Moruno, D. M. (2020) · Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies · doi:10.1080/14636204.2020.1841996 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Feeling Political in Military Cemeteries: Commemoration Politics in Fascist Italy
Malone, H. (2022) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-89858-8_8 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Tandon, S. (2021) · South Asian History and Culture · doi:10.1080/19472498.2021.1878791
Feeling Political on Armistice Day: Institutional Struggles in Interwar France
Lichau, K. (2022) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-89858-8_7
Schröer, F. (2022) · The Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies · doi:10.22439/cjas.v40i2.6746
Rethinking the Early Sufi Romance: The Case of Cāndāyan
Pauwels, H. (2023) · International Journal of Hindu Studies · doi:10.1007/s11407-023-09340-7
Dubai Letter Songs: Emotions and Migration in Kerala, India (1970s–1990s)
Kalarivayil, R. (2023) · Contributions to Indian Sociology · doi:10.1177/00699659231206688
Aristidou, X., Zembylas, M., & Charalambous, C. (2024) · European Educational Research Journal · doi:10.1177/14749041241300633
Lichau, K. (2024) · Social Science History · doi:10.1017/ssh.2024.33
Pahl, K. M. (2024) · Social Science History · doi:10.1017/ssh.2024.35
Why sociology needs optimism, especially in troubled times
Holmes, M. (2026) · Dialogues in sociology. · doi:10.1177/29768667261453451
Gandhi’s politics of resonance: the aesthetic infrastructure of Nationalism
Chakraborty, A. (2026) · Global South Literary Studies · doi:10.1080/30684781.2026.2689720
Mansour, L., & Eyal-Lubling, R. (2026) · Journal of Youth Studies · doi:10.1080/13676261.2026.2736262
- Authors
- Pernau, M.
- Affiliations
- Max Planck Institute for Human Development (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Pernau, Margrit
- ORCID
- Pernau, Margrit
- Venue
- The Indian Economic & Social History Review
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2017-01
- Volume
- 54
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1-20
- ISSN
- 0019-4646 (ISSN-L)
- 0973-0893
- OpenAlex
- W2589770784
- Cited by
- 31
- References
- 52
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 20.55
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Locations
- The Indian Economic & Social History Review (publishedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › History of Emotions Research
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › Cultural History and Identity Formation
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Emotional Labor in Professions
- Keywords
- emotions, collective emotions, emotional communities, emotional expression
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
