Arlene Stein

The essays in this collection expand the definition of catastrophe to include not only events like pandemics, hurricanes, and wildfires but also slower-moving phenomena that have equally disastrous long-term consequences—like environmental degradation and structural racism. This book is a feminist intervention that challenges the binary between public and private, personal and political.

The contributors to Feeling Democracy examine how both reactionary and progressive politics in the twenty-first century are driven largely by emotional appeals to the public. These essays cover everything from immigrants’ rights movements to white nationalist rallies to show how solidarities forged around gender, race, and sexuality become catalysts for a passionate democratic politics.

The essays in this collection expand the definition of catastrophe to include not only events like pandemics, hurricanes, and wildfires but also slower-moving phenomena that have equally disastrous long-term consequences—like environmental degradation and structural racism. This book is a feminist intervention that challenges the binary between public and private, personal and political.