Loving Internationalism: The Emotion Culture of Transnational Women's Organizations, 1888-1945

Abstract

Research on the collective identities of social movement participants points to the strong convictions that underlie activism. A great deal of mobilization work involves channeling, transforming, legitimating, and managing emotions. In this article we use the concept of emotion culture, drawn from social constructionist approaches to emotions, to understand how women in the three major transnational women's organizations from the late nineteenth century through the Second World War built solidarity across national boundaries in order to work for women's rights and peace. The analysis focuses on how the gendered emotion culture of the international women's movement promoted a loving community that transcended national rivalries. We identify three socialization processes: (1) staging expressive public rituals of reconciliation between women who stood on opposite sides of national conflicts; (2) forming intense affective ties across national boundaries; and (3) drawing on the emotional template of mother love.