"Stirring images of war, violence, flight and displacement; hate comments on social media; gestures of a welcoming culture for refugees and solidarity among strangers; the almost palpable tension that suddenly fills the space between those present; uncertainty and fear, but also indifference in the face of the climate catastrophe - examples like these show that affects not only characterise social and private situations in a special way, but that they also indicate and accompany social changes in their respective constitution and circulation. As dynamic forces, affects are fundamental to social relationships and human coexistence.

Based on this observation, the authors explore affectively charged contemporary situations. The subjects and objects of interest are conceivably diverse and reveal the effectiveness of affects as convergence, development, bonding, disruption and disappearance. They report personally on relationships between human and non-human actors, on digital media and intimacy, solidarity and community. They question the power of the imagination and track down concrete techniques of affect development as well as their subversive potential.

Against the backdrop of a rapidly diversifying post-migrant society, in which multiple affiliations are commonplace, but are nevertheless used as a reason for exclusion, the authors write concise, vivid contemporary stories - as prose narratives, reports, essayistic reflections, commentaries, letters, anecdotes, dialogues or dramatizations."

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