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Associate Professor Emma Hutchison

ARC DECRA Research Fellow

School of Political Science and International Studies
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
e.hutchison@uq.edu.au

Overview

Emma Hutchison is an Associate Professor and Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow in the School of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Queensland, Australia. Before returning to UQ in 2011, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy.

Associate Professor Hutchison's research focuses on emotions and trauma in world politics, particularly in relation to the politics and ethics of community, security, humanitarianism and international aid.

Current Key Research Projects

  • Emotions and World Politics: This involves further research on the roles emotions play in world politics. Through a series of articles, this project continues Dr Hutchison's research on theorizing emotions in world politics and expands on her book, Affective Communities in World Politics: Collective Emotions After Trauma (Cambridge Studies in International Relations, Cambridge University Press, 2016). This research also takes shape through ongoing collaborative work conducted with Professor Roland Bleiker, which includes further articles and an edited collection.
  • Emotions and the Politics of Humanitarianism: This new single authored project inquires into the links between emotions and the conception and practice of international humanitarianism. This project examines the historical development and future of international humanitarianism by tracing the emotional origins and legacies that underpin humanitarian responsibilities in world politics. To do this, the research investigates how the history of representing distant suffering has enabled particular emotional discourses and practices through which humanitarianism is now conceived of and enacted. Research began through an ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions AI project on 'Disaster Imagery and the History of Humanitarian Emotions' and a UQ Research Fellowship. It now continues through both an ARC DECRA Fellowship on 'Emotions and the Future of International Humanitarianism' (DE180100029) and a UQ Foundation Research Excellence Award on 'Emotions and the History of Humanitarianism'.
  • The Politics and Ethics of Visualizing Humanitarian Crises: As part of a research team with Professor Roland Bleiker and Professor David Campbell, Dr Hutchison was previously awarded an ARC Discovery Grant for a project on 'How images shape responses to humanitarian crises' (DP110100546). The next phase of this research is now additionally being conducted with A/Professor Jacinta O'Hagan. We aim to work towards a series of articles and further external grant funding to research the roles of images in emerging cultures of humanitarianism.

Along with these key research areas, Dr Hutchison is also interested in, and undertaking smaller projects on, the politics of aesthetics, visual culture, literature and contemporary feminism.

Further information on her research and forthcoming publications is available at https://uq.academia.edu/EmmaHutchison.

CURRENT RESEARCH GRANTS

"Emotions and the Future of International Humanitarianism", Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA), DE180100029.

"Emotions and the History of Humanitarianism", UQ Foundation Research Excellence Award.

SELECT PUBLICATIONS

Single-Authored 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, 2019/2020.

"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, 2019/2020.

"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.

Research Interests

  • International Relations and International Political Theory
    Critical, interdisciplinary and ethical engagements with contemporary world politics. The challenge of conceptualising the global politics of emotions, particularly in relation to humanitarianism, aid and development.
  • Peace and Conflict Studies
    Questions of identity, culture and community formation, with particular reference to how societies can best work through the legacy of violence and trauma. Reconciliation and justice in divided societies.
  • Politics of Emotions
    Conceptualising the social and political significant of emotion and affect at all levels of society and politics, from the local to the global and transnational.
  • Visual Politics
    The politics and ethics of visual communication, focusing on the visual politics of international aid, humanitarianism and security.

Research Impacts

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, Dr Hutchison's research engages an audience beyond academic circles. She has been in close contact with humanitarian NGOs and she provides commentaries through social media, most recently in a series of blogs for the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions.

Through her new research on emotions and humanitarianism, Dr Hutchison is furthering policy linkages and collaborations, through working with humanitarian aid and development NGOs, such as the ICRC, Red Cross Australia, Oxfam International, CARE and Save the Children, as well as with governmental organisations at national and international levels.

Dr Hutchison is also part of a interdiscplinary resaerch team undertaking new work on the politics and ethics of humanitarian imagery. 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.

Qualifications

  • Bachelor of Arts, The University of Queensland
  • Bachelor of Arts (Honours), The University of Queensland
  • Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland

Publications

View all Publications

Grants

View all Grants

Supervision

  • Trauma, Dignity and the Struggle over Recognition: The Emotional Dynamics of Palestinian Resistance to Israeli Occupation

    Doctor Philosophy

  • The Cultural Landscape of Homeland: Remembering and imaginings of Tibet from exile

    Doctor Philosophy

  • The `Stories-So-Far': The Construction of Protection Space as the Everyday Politics of Protection in Indonesia

    Doctor Philosophy

View all Supervision

Available Projects

  • Emotions in Local and Global Politics

    Theorizing 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 and practices of humanitarianism, international aid and development, and security and surveillance. Prospective RHD students interested in these (and surrounding) emerging debates are encouraged to get in touch about potential supervision.

  • Humanitarianism

    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/Ethics of Disaster Imagery

    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, analyzing in particular the roles emotions and culture play in paradoxically enabling yet also limiting responses to humanitarian crises. Prospective RHD students in these and associated research areas are also encouraged to get in touch.

View all Available Projects

Publications

Book

Book Chapter

  • Humanitarian emotions through history: Imaging suffering and performing aid

    Hutchison, Emma (2019). Humanitarian emotions through history: Imaging suffering and performing aid. In Martín-Moruno, Dolores and Beatriz Pichel (Ed.), Emotional Bodies: The Historical Performativity of Emotions () Illinois, United States: Illinois University Press.

  • In public: collectivities and polities

    Hutchison, Emma and Bleiker, Roland (2019). In public: collectivities and polities. In Jane Davidson and Joy Damousi (Ed.), A cultural history of emotions: in the Modern and Post-Modern Age (1920-2000+) (pp. 145-159) London, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury.

  • 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. In Maéva Clément and Eric Sangar (Ed.), Researching emotions in international relations: methodological perspectives on the emotional turn (pp. 325-342) Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-65575-8

  • Trauma

    Hutchison, Emma (2018). Trauma. In Roland Bleiker (Ed.), Visual global politics (pp. 298-305) London, United Kingdom: Routledge.

  • Trauma

    Hutchison, Emma (2018). Trauma. In Roland Bleiker (Ed.), Visual global politics (pp. 306-313) Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge.

  • Grief and the transformation of emotions after war

    Hutchison, Emma and Bleiker, Roland (2015). Grief and the transformation of emotions after war. In Linda Åhäll and Thomas Gregory (Ed.), Emotions, politics and war (pp. 210-221) Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge.

  • Imaging catastrophe: the politics of representing humanitarian crises

    Hutchison, Emma, Bleiker, Roland and Campbell, David (2014). Imaging catastrophe: the politics of representing humanitarian crises. In Michele Acuto (Ed.), Negotiating relief: the politics of humanitarian space (pp. 47-58) London, United Kingdom: Hurst & Co Publishers.

  • Reconciliation

    Bleiker, Roland and Hutchison, Emma (2013). Reconciliation. In Roger Mac Ginty (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of peacebuilding (pp. 81-90) Abington, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge.

  • Ungendering the links between emotions and violence: towards a political appreciation of empathy and compassion

    Hutchison, Emma and Bleiker, Roland (2012). Ungendering the links between emotions and violence: towards a political appreciation of empathy and compassion. In Linda Åhall and Laura J. Shepherd (Ed.), Gender, agency and political violence (pp. 151-168) Houndmills, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan.

  • Emotions in the war on terror

    Hutchison, Emma and Bleiker, Roland (2008). Emotions in the war on terror. In Alex J. Bellamy, Roland Bleiker, Sara E. Davies and Richard Devetak (Ed.), Security and the war on terror (pp. 57-70) 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. In Costas M. Constantinour, Oliver P. Richmond and Alison M. S. Watson (Ed.), Cultures and politics of global communication (pp. 115-135) Cambridge , U.K.: Cambridge University Press.

Journal Article

Other Outputs

Grants (Administered at UQ)

PhD and MPhil Supervision

Current Supervision

  • Trauma, Dignity and the Struggle over Recognition: The Emotional Dynamics of Palestinian Resistance to Israeli Occupation

    Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • The Cultural Landscape of Homeland: Remembering and imaginings of Tibet from exile

    Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • The `Stories-So-Far': The Construction of Protection Space as the Everyday Politics of Protection in Indonesia

    Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Emotions and Political Violence: A Study of Mobilization in Maoist Movement in Nepal

    Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Visuals in the media coverage of protest movements

    Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

Possible Research Projects

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.

  • Emotions in Local and Global Politics

    Theorizing 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 and practices of humanitarianism, international aid and development, and security and surveillance. Prospective RHD students interested in these (and surrounding) emerging debates are encouraged to get in touch about potential supervision.

  • Humanitarianism

    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/Ethics of Disaster Imagery

    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, analyzing in particular the roles emotions and culture play in paradoxically enabling yet also limiting responses to humanitarian crises. Prospective RHD students in these and associated research areas are also encouraged to get in touch.

This staff member is a UQ Expert for media in the following fields:

International Relations and Security, Peace and Conflict Issues, Humanitarianism, International Aid, Politics of Emotions, Trauma and Communal Recovery, Visual Politics

They are happy to lend their expertise to your articles or broadcasts and share their research discoveries and insights with the community via media channels.

For additional assistance with story ideas, general advice and information or help with seeking further experts, please email the UQ Media Team or telephone (07) 3365 1120.

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ORCID: 0000-0001-7519-2746

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