Sara Ahmed, The Promise of Happiness
The Stuart Hall Library runs monthly a Reading Group which looks at texts which stimulate discussions and debates elaborating on issues such as multiculturalism, identity politics, art, literature and philosophy with an interdisciplinary focus.
In the last Reading Group the text discussed was ‘Melancholic Migrants’, a chapter from Sara Ahmed’s book The Promise of Happiness, 2010.
This text was chosen because it provides an interesting perspective on the individual migrant, concepts of multiculturalism, and ideas of happiness relating to affect studies. In the introduction Ahmed describes ‘the happiness turn’ (p.3) in which there has been an increase in research into happiness and ‘well being’ in the past decade, particularly in the disciplines of social policy and psychology. It has influenced David Cameron’s political discourse, and the Conservative party pledged to conduct a survey to measure the nation’s happiness [Stratton, Guardian.co.uk, 14 November, 2010, accessed 12.10.2011]. Also, its themes are closely linked with Iniva’s current exhibition, Entanglement: the Ambivalence of Identity.
The Stuart Hall Library Reading Group
Find out more: If you are interested to learn more about the discussions from the group you can read up on the Library Blog: http://stuarthalllibrary.blogspot.com/
Audio recordings of each group are recorded and are available to listen to on the Library’s Reading Group webpage.
To enquire about joining the Reading Group contact Library@iniva.org or call 0207 749 1255.