Between emotion and reason: the role of affective networks and events in sustaining the daily experience of environmental activism

Abstract

Based on a 4-month ethnographic study with a group of four young activists in the city of Porto, this chapter aims to understand the role of emotions and affective bonds in grass-roots collective youth action. We specifically analyse the role of the ‘friendship networks’ held by the group to be ‘a community building strategy’ and as a supporter of the annual public event that advocates for sustainability and environmental awareness and action. In this case, emotions appear to play a central strategic role in the group’s political action, both as a sustenance to endure activism and as a strategy to foster social change.