'In the communicative spaces of digital media with their expanded base of user participation, emotions or the social circulation of feelings play a crucial role in the manner in which political positions are articulated and everyday negotiations with politics are performed. The articles in this Special Issue stem from an international workshop held in July 2017 at the University of Amsterdam titled ‘Emotions, political work and participatory media’, where participants working on diverse regions spoke about social media and the role of affect and emotions in the facilitation of politically engaged publics. In this Special Issue, politics emerges in community networks as well as in networks based on an abiding interest in matters of national interests. Both kinds of networks are affective (bound by sentiments of solidarity and belonging) and do deeply political work, in that their performances and interactions concern matters of community building but also identity formation.' (Introduction)
'I first came across the cultural policy work of Julian Meyrick and Tully Barnett through their provocatively titled scholarly article in Cultural Trends, ‘Culture Without “World”: Australian Cultural Policy in the Age of Stupid.’ I found the authors’ clear-eyed assessment of recent problems with Australian arts and cultural policy provocative, courageous and intelligent. Julian Meyrick’s background as an Australian theatre professional, coupled with his cultural policy expertise, compliments Tully Barnett’s expertise in digital humanities and literary studies well: the result is literate, inventive and energetic scholarly work. I wanted to read more like it.' (Introduction)
