Feeling “Brexit”: Nationalism and the Affective Politics of Movement

Abstract

“Brexit” reveals the necessity of understanding the role of affect in political life, in particular in constituting ideas about nationality and in animating the politics of populism. This article discusses what “Brexit” felt like in the year following the UK vote—held on 23 June 2016—to leave the European Union through a performance called “The Populars” created and performed in 2017 by Volcano Theatre, in Swansea (Abertawe). In this paper, I discuss feelings of shame, hostility, and resentment and situate them in relation to the crises of British multiculturalism and rise of populism, before turning to how such feelings were addressed in this performance through movement and dance. The article addresses three specific contributions that engaging affect does in the context of “Brexit”: first, it forms an invitation to address heightened political feelings; second, it suggests an alternative approach to the politics of knowledge to that enabled by a focus on voter interests or identities; third, it opens up other ways of understanding being in common. Overall, I make the case for how an affective approach to the politics of movement suggests ways of thinking and acting politically that defy the closures of nationalist populism.