The Affective Economies of Sovereignty: Desire and Identification

Abstract

Khoja-Moolji’s analysis of sovereignty in a cultural-affective register from a postcolonial perspective contributes to the developing study of the affective economies of sovereignty. This literature has two central concepts that we have to think carefully about: desire and identification. I explore sovereign desires in the context of fantasy and history, and think about identification as connecting sovereigns to citizens. I consider how an emphasis on affect helps us understand how sovereignty becomes worthy of so much affective and political investment.