Beyond Climate Emotions: Feeling Socio-Ecological Transformations

Socio-ecological transformations are not only material, institutional, and political processes, but also deeply affective and emotional ones. This Special Issue invites contributions that explore how affects and emotions are not merely responses to phenomena such as climate change, biodiversity loss, or resource scarcity, but co-constitutive dimensions of transformation. The aim is to advance affect and emotion theories through strong, empirically grounded conceptual developments, zooming in on the empirical situatedness of affects and emotions. How do affects and emotions emerge within specific social, cultural, and spatial contexts and, at the same time, transform socio-ecological realities and futures? How do they relate to dynamics of power and social (in)equalities inherent in processes of transformation? And how can conflicting experiences of transformation and stagnation, of attachment and indifference, be understood methodologically and theoretically? By promoting the interplay between qualitative research, theoretical innovation, and methodological reflection, this Special Issue aims to move beyond categorial understandings of “climate emotions”, instead collecting nuanced, context-sensitive, and conceptually ambitious insights into the affective and emotional dimensions of socio-ecological transformations in social, cultural, and spatial contexts across the globe.

We welcome contributions that

• advance concepts of eco-emotions and affects based on qualitative social research (including discourse research, creative and speculative methods, as well as mixed-methods research designs)
• address how affects and emotions emerge within specific social, cultural, and spatial contexts of socio-ecological transformations
• develop new terms and/or theoretical propositions to describe current dynamics of feeling (in) socio-ecological transformations
• reflect on conflicting emotional experiences of transformation and stagnation, as well as attachment, detachment, and indifference
• explore how affects and emotions co-constitute socio-ecological realities and futures, as well as power relations, inequalities, and processes of inclusion and exclusion
• present research from academically underrepresented geopolitical, cultural, environmental, and epistemic settings.

Manuscript submission information:

Authors are invited to submit an Abstract (maximum 300 words) by 30th November 2026 to our Managing Guest Editor Dr Julia Böcker  (julia.boecker@leuphana.de). 

Feedback on submissions shall be provided by 22nd December 2026 

The deadline for the submission of full manuscripts is 15th April 2027.

Papers shall be published on a rolling basis.

Please reach out to the Guest Editors for any questions regarding any appropriateness of topics, etc.

Call for Abstracts (LINK)