Senta Terner: "The Making of a Global Emotional Community"

Abstract:

In 1990, a global community of activists from diverse backgrounds came together under the name Youth ’92 with the aim of influencing the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. How can we understand this group called itself the “global youth”?

This chapter explores the Youth ’92 movement, focusing on its formation, organisational structure, strategies and practices. It investigates how these activists constructed and communicated their identity as “global youth” and how this identity served as a basis for their claim to participate in global politics.

To deepen this understanding, the chapter draws on postcolonial theory, particularly Homi Bhabha’s concept of the Third Space. Additionally, I argue that theories from emotional history help to comprehend the Youth ’92 movement.

Hope and fear, in particular, played a pivotal role in fostering a sense of unity within the group and were expressed through specific protest actions, sometimes symbolic like tree-planting.
Moreover, through their communication in other publics emotions were sticked to and conveyed through a number of key concepts like debt and shame or biodiversity and the feeling of loss to strengthened their political demands.

By investigating these actors from the margins, their ideas, thoughts, perspectives and communication strategies this chapter offers new insights into political action and human behavior in the Anthropocene.