Emma Hutchison is Associate Professor and Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow in the School of Political Science and International Studies. She is an interdisciplinary politics and international relations scholar. Her work explores the politics of emotion, trauma, humanitarianism and aid, and conflict and its recovery. She examines these topics conceptually and through a range of contexts, from humanitarian crisis and terrorist attacks to the challenge of reconciling societies divided by historical trauma.
Emma has published on these topics in a range of academic journals and books. Her key publications can be viewed below. Her first book, Affective Communities in World Politics: Collective Emotions After Trauma (Cambridge University Press, 2016), was awarded the BISA Susan Strange Book Prize, the ISA International Theory Best Book Award, and the Australian Political Studies Assocation Crisp Prize.
Emma is currently working on a range of projects, which extend her research into the roles of emotions in world politics, humanitarian change through history and in international order, and the politics and ethics of visualising humanitarian crises. Her research takes shape individually and collaboratively, and through an ARC DECRA Project (2018-2024), a UQ Foundation Research Excellence Award (2018-2021), and an ARC Linkage Project (2022-2026). The latter involves collaboration across three universities and with industry partners, the World Press Photo Foundation, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Australian Red Cross and Médecins Sans Frontières.
For a recent story on some of Emma's research, see here.
Emma teaches into peace and conflict studies and international relations programs across the School of Political Science and International Studies. She is course coordinator for POLS7503 Ethics and Human Rights.
GRANTS AND AWARDS
"Visualising Humanitarian Crises: Transforming Images and Aid Policy", ARC Linkage Project 2022-2026, Lead CI Professor Roland Bleiker with Emma Deputy-Lead, LP2000200046.
"Emotions and the Future of International Humanitarianism", Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2018-2024, DE180100029.
"Emotions and the History of Humanitarianism", UQ Foundation Research Excellence Award.
Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, Paul Bourke Award for 2018.
SELECT PUBLICATIONS
Books
Affective Communities in World Politics: Collective Emotions After Trauma. Cambridge Studies in International Relations, Cambridge University Press, 2016/2018.
*Awarded the British International Studies Association Susan Strange Book Prize for 2017.
*Awarded the ISA Theory Section Best Book Award for 2017-2018.
Edited Collections
"Making War, Making Sense?" (with Asli Calkivik), in Millennium: Journal of International Studies, Vol. 48, No. 1, 2020.
"Emotions and World Politics" (with Roland Bleiker), in International Theory, Vol. 6, No. 3, 2014.
Journal Articles
"Making War, Making Sense? Debating Jens Bartelson's War in International Thought" (with Asli Calkivik), Millennium: Journal of International Studies, Vol. 48, No. 1, 2020.
"Emotions, Bodies, and the Un/Making of International Relations, Millennium: Journal of International Studies, Vol. 47, No. 2, 2019.
"Emotions, Discourse and Power in World Politics" (with Roland Bleiker), International Studies Review, Vol. 19, No. 3, 2017.
"Theorizing Emotions in World Politics" (with Roland Bleiker), International Theory, Vol. 6. No. 3, 2014.
"A Global Politics of Pity? Disaster Imagery and the Emotional Construction of Solidarity after the 2004 Asian Tsunami", International Political Sociology, Vol. 8, No. 1, 2014.
"The Visual Dehumanization of Refugees" (with Roland Bleiker, David Campbell and Xzarina Nicholson), Australian Journal of Political Science, Vol. 48, No. 4, 2014.
"Affective Communities as Security Communities", Critical Studies on Security, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2013.
"Trauma and the Politics of Emotions: Constituting Identity, Security and Community after the Bali Bombing," International Relations, Vol. 24, No. 1, 2010.
"Unsettling Stories: Jeanette Winterson and the Cultivation of Political Contingency", Global Society, Vol. 24, No. 3, 2010.
"Emotional Reconciliation: Reconstituting Identity and Community After Trauma" (with Roland Bleiker), European Journal of Social Theory, Vol. 11, No. 3, 2008.
"Fear No More: Emotions and World Politics" (with Roland Bleiker), Review of International Studies, Vol. 34, 2008.
Book Chapters
"Humanitarian Emotions Through History: Imaging Suffering and Performing Aid", in Dolorès Martin Moruno and Beatriz Pichel (eds.), Emotional Bodies: Studies on the Historical Performativity of Emotions. Illinois: University of Illinois Press, forthcoming 2019/2020.
"Trauma", in Roland Bleiker (ed.), Visual Global Politics. Interventions Book Series, Routledge, 2017.
"Grief and the Transformation of Collective Emotions After War" (with Roland Bleiker), in Linda Ahall and Thomas Gregory (eds.), Emotions, Politics and War. Milton Park and New York: Routledge, 2015.
"Art, Aesthetics and Emotionality" (with Roland Bleiker), in Laura J. Shepherd (ed.), Gender Matters in World Politics: A Feminist Introduction to International Relations, 2nd edition. Milton Park and New York: Routledge, 2014.
"Imaging Catastrophe: The Politics of Representing Humanitarian Crises" (with Roland Bleiker and David Campbell), in Michele Acuto (ed.), Negotiating Relief: The Dialectics of Humanitarian Space. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.
"Emotions in the War on Terror" (with Roland Bleiker), in Alex J. Bellamy, Roland Bleiker, Sara E. Davies and Richard Devetak (eds.), Security and the War on Terror. London: Routledge, 2008.
Other Publications
“As Fires Rage We Must Use Social Media for Long-Term Change, Not Just Short-Term Fundraising,” The Conversation, January 2020. Available here.
“Why Study Emotions in International Relations”, E-IR, 8 March 2018. Available here.
“Affective Communities and World Politics,” E-IR, 8 March 2018. Available here.
“Emotions and the Precarious History of International Humanitarianism,” for the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions “Histories of Emotion” blog, hosted by the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions, 19 August 2017. Available here.
“Emotional Cultures and the Politics of Peace,” (with Roland Bleiker) for the “Histories of Emotion” blog, hosted by the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions "History of Emotion" Blog, 25 September 2015. Available here.
“Emotions, Conflict and Communal Recovery,” for the “Histories of Emotion” blog, hosted by the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions, 17 July 2015. Available here.
“The Politics of Post-Trauma Emotions: Securing Community after the Bali Bombing,” Working Paper 2008/4, Department of International Relations, RSPAS, The Australian National University, 43pp.
Associate Professor Hutchison has published with leading academic journals and university book presses, and is meanwhile internationally recognised for her research on emotions and world politics. In addition to scholarly impacts, Emma's research engages an audience beyond academic circles. She has been in close contact with humanitarian NGOs and she provides commentaries through social media forums, such as through the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions blog, E-IR, and The Conversation.
Through her new research on emotions and humanitarian imagery, Emma is furthering policy linkages and collaborations, through working with humanitarian aid and development NGOs, such as the ICRC, Red Cross Australia, Oxfam International, and Save the Children, as well as with governmental organisations at national and international levels.
Emma is also part of a interdiscplinary research team undertaking new work - funded by an ARC Linkage Project - on the politics and ethics of imaging humanitarian crises. Formally partnering with the World Press Photo Foundation, the ICRC (Geneva), the Australian Red Cross, and Médecins Sans Frontières, this research seeks to question and develop principles to guide practices of imaging human suffering and crisis.
Book Chapter: Art and Aesthetics
Bleiker, Roland and Hutchison, Emma (2022). Art and Aesthetics. Gender Matters in Global Politics. (pp. 94-108) London: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003036432-10
Book Chapter: Visuality of peace and conflict
Hutchison, Emma and Bleiker, Roland (2021). Visuality of peace and conflict. The Oxford handbook of peacebuilding, statebuilding, and peace formation. (pp. 1-17) edited by Oliver P. Richmond and Gëzim Visoka. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190904418.013.14
Book Chapter: Refugees, asylum seekers, and emotions
Bleiker, Roland, Campbell, David and Hutchison, Emma (2021). Refugees, asylum seekers, and emotions. The Oxford handbook of Australian politics. (pp. 222-240) edited by Jenny M. Lewis and Anne Tiernan. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198805465.013.14
Visualising humanitarian crises: transforming images and aid policy
(2022–2026) ARC Linkage Projects
Emotions and the future of international humanitarianism
(2018–2025) ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award
Emotions and the History of International Humanitarianism
(2018–2021) UQ Foundation
Affective Resistance: Feeling through everyday Palestinian struggle
(2023) Doctor Philosophy
Emotions and Everyday Practices of Protection for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Indonesia
(2023) Doctor Philosophy
Photographic Resistance: Protest, the News, and the Viewer
Doctor Philosophy
International Theory / International Relations Theory
I welcome potential PhD scholars working broadly across international theory and international relations theory. My areas span a range of theoretical approaches, from more traditional IR theories to those that are more critical and also still emerging, such as feminist, poststructural, constructivist, postcolonial and decolonial theories. Projects can scrutinise and seek to further develop these theoretical approaches. They can also adopt or fuse together these approaches in order to reflect on key political and ethical dilemmas in world politics today, including boundaries of care and responsibility in international relations, questions of identity, solidarity and community, agency and inclusion in world politics, and the potentials for social and political change.
Emotions in Local and Global Politics
Theorising emotion and affect in social and political life, at all levels from local to global politics. Examining the politics and ethics of affective communal attachments, and the implications of such attachments for conceptions of identity and community, practices of humanitarianism, international aid and development, and also security and surveillance. Projects that investigate ontological and methodological questions related to studying emotion and the body and embodied affects are also welcome. Prospective PhD scholars interested in these (and surrounding) emerging debates are encouraged to get in touch about potential supervision.
Humanitarianism and International Aid
Research on humanitarianism emerges from previous and current work on the politics of emotions and community/responsibility, and in particular how images and the emotions they solicit shape humanitarian responses. Especially interested in exploring the emotional underpinnings - and historical development - of contemporary humanitarianism.
Affective communities in world politics: collective emotions after trauma
Hutchison, Emma (2016). Affective communities in world politics: collective emotions after trauma. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Bleiker, Roland and Hutchison, Emma (2022). Art and Aesthetics. Gender Matters in Global Politics. (pp. 94-108) London: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003036432-10
Visuality of peace and conflict
Hutchison, Emma and Bleiker, Roland (2021). Visuality of peace and conflict. The Oxford handbook of peacebuilding, statebuilding, and peace formation. (pp. 1-17) edited by Oliver P. Richmond and Gëzim Visoka. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190904418.013.14
Refugees, asylum seekers, and emotions
Bleiker, Roland, Campbell, David and Hutchison, Emma (2021). Refugees, asylum seekers, and emotions. The Oxford handbook of Australian politics. (pp. 222-240) edited by Jenny M. Lewis and Anne Tiernan. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198805465.013.14
Bleiker, Roland and Hutchison, Emma (2021). Performing political empathy. The Oxford handbook of politics and performance. (pp. 594-608) edited by Shirin M. Rai, Milija Gluhovic, Silvija Jestrovic and Michael Saward. New York, United States: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190863456.013.27
Bleiker, Roland and Hutchison, Emma (2021). Performing political empathy. The Oxford handbook of politics and performance. (pp. 595-608) edited by Shirin M. Rai, Milija Gluhovic, Silvija Jestrovic and Michael Saward. New York, NY USA: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190863456.013.27
Gender and violence in news media and photography
Bleiker, Roland and Hutchison, Emma (2019). Gender and violence in news media and photography. Handbook on Gender and Violence. (pp. 231-247) edited by Laura J. Shepherd. Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing. doi: 10.4337/9781788114691.00023
Humanitarian emotions through history: imaging suffering and performing aid
Hutchison, Emma (2019). Humanitarian emotions through history: imaging suffering and performing aid. Emotional bodies: the historical performativity of emotions. (pp. 219-241) edited by Dolores Martín-Moruno and Beatriz Pichel. Illinois, United States: Illinois University Press.
In public: collectivities and polities
Hutchison, Emma and Bleiker, Roland (2019). In public: collectivities and polities. A cultural history of the emotions in the Modern and Post-Modern Age. (pp. 145-159) edited by Jane W. Davidson and Joy Damousi. London, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Academic. doi: 10.5040/9781474207072
Methods and methodologies for the study of emotions in world politics
Bleiker, Roland and Hutchison, Emma (2018). Methods and methodologies for the study of emotions in world politics. Researching emotions in international relations: methodological perspectives on the emotional turn. (pp. 325-342) edited by Maéva Clément and Eric Sangar. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-65575-8_14
Hutchison, Emma (2018). Trauma. Visual global politics. (pp. 298-305) edited by Roland Bleiker. London, United Kingdom: Routledge.
Hutchison, Emma (2018). Trauma. Visual global politics. (pp. 306-313) edited by Roland Bleiker. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315856506-48
Grief and the transformation of emotions after war
Hutchison, Emma and Bleiker, Roland (2015). Grief and the transformation of emotions after war. Emotions, politics and war. (pp. 210-221) edited by Linda Åhäll and Thomas Gregory. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge.
Art, aesthetics and emotionality
Hutchison, Emma and Bleiker, Roland (2014). Art, aesthetics and emotionality. Gender matters in global politics: a feminist introduction to international relations. (pp. 349-360) edited by Laura J. Shepherd. London, United Kingdom: Taylor and Francis.
Imaging catastrophe: the politics of representing humanitarian crises
Hutchison, Emma, Bleiker, Roland and Campbell, David (2014). Imaging catastrophe: the politics of representing humanitarian crises. Negotiating relief: the politics of humanitarian space. (pp. 47-58) edited by Michele Acuto. London, United Kingdom: Hurst & Co Publishers.
Bleiker, Roland and Hutchison, Emma (2013). Reconciliation. The Routledge handbook of peacebuilding. (pp. 81-90) edited by Roger Mac Ginty. Abington, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge.
Hutchison, Emma and Bleiker, Roland (2012). Ungendering the links between emotions and violence: towards a political appreciation of empathy and compassion. Gender, agency and political violence. (pp. 151-168) edited by Linda Åhall and Laura J. Shepherd. Houndmills, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hutchison, Emma and Bleiker, Roland (2008). Emotions in the war on terror. Security and the war on terror. (pp. 57-70) edited by Alex J. Bellamy, Roland Bleiker, Sara E. Davies and Richard Devetak. London, England: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780203028094
Fear no more: Emotions and world politics
Bleiker, Roland and Hutchison, Emma (2008). Fear no more: Emotions and world politics. Cultures and politics of global communication. (pp. 115-135) edited by Costas M. Constantinour, Oliver P. Richmond and Alison M. S. Watson. Cambridge , U.K.: Cambridge University Press.
Toward an ethic of care and inclusivity in emergency e-learning
Hutchison, Emma (2021). Toward an ethic of care and inclusivity in emergency e-learning. PS: Political Science and Politics, 54 (1), 185-187. doi: 10.1017/s1049096520001602
Making War, Making Sense? Debating Jens Bartelson's War in International Thought
Hutchison, Emma and Calkivik, Asli (2019). Making War, Making Sense? Debating Jens Bartelson's War in International Thought. Millennium-Journal of International Studies, 48 (1), 60-69. doi: 10.1177/0305829819873954
Emotions, Bodies, and the Un/Making of International Relations
Hutchison, Emma (2019). Emotions, Bodies, and the Un/Making of International Relations. Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 47 (2), 284-298. doi: 10.1177/0305829818811243
Methods and methodologies for the study of emotions in world politics
Bleiker, Roland and Hutchison, Emma (2018). Methods and methodologies for the study of emotions in world politics. Researching Emotions in International Relations: Methodological Perspectives On the Emotional Turn, 325-342. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-65575-8_14
Discourse and emotions in international relations
Koschut, Simon, Hall, Todd H., Wolf, Reinhard, Solomon, Ty, Hutchison, Emma and Bleiker, Roland (2017). Discourse and emotions in international relations. International Studies Review, 19 (3), 481-508. doi: 10.1093/isr/vix033
Introduction: emotions and world politics
Bleiker, Roland and Hutchison, Emma (2014). Introduction: emotions and world politics. International Theory, 6 (3), 490-491. doi: 10.1017/S1752971914000220
Theorizing emotions in world politics
Hutchison, Emma and Bleiker, Roland (2014). Theorizing emotions in world politics. International Theory, 6 (3), 491-514. doi: 10.1017/S1752971914000232
Hutchison, Emma (2014). A global politics of pity? Disaster imagery and the emotional construction of solidarity after the 2004 Asian Tsunami. International Political Sociology, 8 (1), 1-19. doi: 10.1111/ips.12037
Visual cultures of inhospitality
Bleiker, Roland, Campbell, David and Hutchison, Emma (2014). Visual cultures of inhospitality. Peace Review, 26 (2), 192-200. doi: 10.1080/10402659.2014.906884
The Visual Dehumanisation of Refugees
Bleiker, Roland, Campbell, David, Hutchison, Emma and Nicholson, Xzarina (2013). The Visual Dehumanisation of Refugees. Australian Journal of Political Science, 48 (3), 398-416. doi: 10.1080/10361146.2013.840769
Affective communities as security communities
Hutchison, Emma (2013). Affective communities as security communities. Critical Studies on Security, 1 (1), 127-129. doi: 10.1080/21624887.2013.790227
Unsettling stories: Jeanette Winterson and the cultivation of political contingency
Hutchison, Emma (2010). Unsettling stories: Jeanette Winterson and the cultivation of political contingency. Global Society, 24 (3), 351-368. doi: 10.1080/13600826.2010.485561
Hutchison, Emma (2010). Trauma and the politics of emotions: Constituting identity, security and community after the Bali bombing. International Relations, 24 (1), 65-86. doi: 10.1177/0047117809348712
Hutchison, Emma (2009). Leigh A. Payne, Unsettling Accounts: Neither Truth nor Reconciliation in Confessions of State Violence; Maja Zehfuss, Wounds of Memory: The Politics of War in Germany. Millennium, 38 (1), 201-204. doi: 10.1177/03058298090380010118
Hutchison, E. K. (2008). Book Review: Elizabeth Dauphinée, The Ethics of Researching War: Looking for Bosnia (Manchester University Press, 2007). Millennium - Journal of International Studies, 37 (1), 208-210. doi: 10.1177/03058298080370011103
Emotional reconciliation: Reconstituting identity and community after trauma
Hutchison, Emma and Bleiker, Roland (2008). Emotional reconciliation: Reconstituting identity and community after trauma. European Journal of Social Theory, 11 (3), 385-403. doi: 10.1177/1368431008092569
Hutchison, Emma (2008). (Book Review of) Elizabeth Dauphinée's The Ethics of Researching War: Looking for Bosnia (Manchester University Press, 2007). Millennium - Journal of International Studies, 37 (1), 208-210.
Fear no more: Emotions and world politics
Bleiker, Roland and Hutchison, Emma (2008). Fear no more: Emotions and world politics. Review of International Studies, 34 (Supp. 1), 115-135. doi: 10.1017/S0260210508007821
Hutchison, Emma K. (2007). Book review: Political Theory and Methodology. Brooke A. Ackerly,Maria Stern and Jacqui True (eds), Feminist Methodologies for International Relations. Australian Journal of Political Science, 42 (4), 720-721. doi: 10.1080/10361140701687002
Trauma, Emotion and the Construction of Community in World Politics
Ms Emma Hutchison (2008). Trauma, Emotion and the Construction of Community in World Politics. PhD Thesis, School of Political Science and International Studies, The University of Queensland.
The Politics of Post-Trauma Emotions: Securing Community After the Bali Bombing
Emma Hutchison (2008). The Politics of Post-Trauma Emotions: Securing Community After the Bali Bombing. Paper 2008/4. Department of International Relations, RSPAS, The Australian National University.
Understanding emotions in world politics: reflections on method
Bleiker, Roland and Hutchison, Emma (2007). Understanding emotions in world politics: reflections on method. Working Paper. 2007/5. Dept. of International Relations, Australian National University.
Visualising humanitarian crises: transforming images and aid policy
(2022–2026) ARC Linkage Projects
Emotions and the future of international humanitarianism
(2018–2025) ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award
Emotions and the History of International Humanitarianism
(2018–2021) UQ Foundation
Emotional cultures and the politics of humanitarianism
(2016–2018) UQ Fellowships
(2014–2017) UQ Postdoctoral Fellowships for Women
How Disaster Images Constitute International Aid Cultures
(2012–2013) UQ New Staff Research Start-Up Fund
Photographic Resistance: Protest, the News, and the Viewer
Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor
Other advisors:
Narrating Tibetanness through Movement and Being Moved: Performative Testimonies and Affective Solidarities in an Australian Tibetan Community
Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor
Other advisors:
Affective Resistance: Feeling through everyday Palestinian struggle
(2023) Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor
Other advisors:
Emotions and Everyday Practices of Protection for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Indonesia
(2023) Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor
Other advisors:
Emotions and Political Violence: An (Auto-)ethnographic Account of the People's War in Nepal
(2023) Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor
Other advisors:
Note for students: The possible research projects listed on this page may not be comprehensive or up to date. Always feel free to contact the staff for more information, and also with your own research ideas.
International Theory / International Relations Theory
I welcome potential PhD scholars working broadly across international theory and international relations theory. My areas span a range of theoretical approaches, from more traditional IR theories to those that are more critical and also still emerging, such as feminist, poststructural, constructivist, postcolonial and decolonial theories. Projects can scrutinise and seek to further develop these theoretical approaches. They can also adopt or fuse together these approaches in order to reflect on key political and ethical dilemmas in world politics today, including boundaries of care and responsibility in international relations, questions of identity, solidarity and community, agency and inclusion in world politics, and the potentials for social and political change.
Emotions in Local and Global Politics
Theorising emotion and affect in social and political life, at all levels from local to global politics. Examining the politics and ethics of affective communal attachments, and the implications of such attachments for conceptions of identity and community, practices of humanitarianism, international aid and development, and also security and surveillance. Projects that investigate ontological and methodological questions related to studying emotion and the body and embodied affects are also welcome. Prospective PhD scholars interested in these (and surrounding) emerging debates are encouraged to get in touch about potential supervision.
Humanitarianism and International Aid
Research on humanitarianism emerges from previous and current work on the politics of emotions and community/responsibility, and in particular how images and the emotions they solicit shape humanitarian responses. Especially interested in exploring the emotional underpinnings - and historical development - of contemporary humanitarianism.
The Politics and Ethics of Images
Research in this area intersects with both ARC Discovery Project sponsored research, conducted together with Prof. Roland Bleiker and Prof. David Campbell, and new work on emotions and humanitarianism. These projects investigate in how images help to shape humanitarian sentiments and responsibilities. In doing so, they examine the politics and ethics of dominant forms of disaster imagery, analysing in particular the roles emotions and culture play in paradoxically enabling yet also limiting responses to humanitarian crises. Prospective PhD scholars in these and associated research areas are also encouraged to get in touch.