Affective economies
Affective economies, a concept developed by Sara Ahmed, describe how emotions move between bodies and institutions—how they stick to some figures and slide off others, shaping whose pain is recognised, whose anger is feared, and whose presence is rendered excessive.
In education systems, affective economies explain how schools manage emotion as power: rewarding composure, punishing distress, and rerouting grief into blame, often along lines of race, class, gender, and disability.
By naming the emotional politics beneath policy, we expose how institutions sustain themselves through the unequal circulation of feeling—and how that circulation determines who is heard, who is erased, and who is marked as trouble before they even speak.
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The infection of neoliberalism in Canadian public education
The ideology of neoliberalism, with its relentless emphasis on competition, individual responsibility, and market logic, has seeped deeply into Canadian public education. It presents itself as pragmatic and modernising, promising efficiency, innovation, and responsiveness to “stakeholders.” Yet beneath this rhetoric lies a corrosion of the foundational principles of public schooling — equity, universality, and the…
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Fierce is fair: when institutional tone policing meets legal obligation
There comes a moment when a parent begins to speak in plain terms, with no softening edge, no accommodating smile, no fear of being perceived as uncooperative. It’s when you realise that you won’t be liked, no matter how hard you try, because your advocacy positions you as inherently unlikable by schools with their current…
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When pain gets too close: Affective economies and the emotional cost of advocacy
I have always been someone who made people uneasy unless I carefully managed my presence—someone whose attention lands too directly, whose knowing shows too quickly, whose intensity disrupts the emotional choreography expected of mothers who ask nicely, grieve quietly, and remain grateful for whatever scraps of support are handed down. I carry detail and radiate…
