Spatialising affect; affecting space: an introduction

Geographies of emotional life constitute an important and vibrant new ®eld of research, which both contributes to, and is rooted in, feminist geography. Focusing on the interplay between emotions, gender, space and place, this themed issue develops our understanding of emotional geographies and articulates an original and fruitful conversation among feminists from a range of disciplines about the spatialities of emotional life. Emotions are, without doubt, an intractable if intangible aspect of all of our everyday lives. They are embodied and mindful phenomena that partially shape, and are shaped by our interactions with the people, places and politics that make up our unique, personal geographies. Clearly, our emotions matter. They affect the way we see (hear and touch1⁄4?) the substance of our past, present and future; all can seem bright, dull or darkened by our emotional outlook. Moreover, whether we crave emotional equilibrium, or adrenaline thrills, the dynamic nature of our being-in-the-world entails a degree of instability for all of us. Whether joyful or heartbreaking, emotion has the power to transform the shape of our life-worlds, expanding or contracting, creating new ®ssures or ®xtures we never expected to ®nd. The subject of emotion is clearly of the utmost importance for feminist geographers, and the articles included in this special issue provide valuable insights into many and varied aspects of the gendered, emotionally dynamic spatiality of contemporary social life, from a number of different perspectives. The opening paper by Erica Burman and Khatidja Chantler draws our attention to the emotional work involved in researching the lives of minoritised women who have faced and tried to ̄ee domestic violence. They discuss how the meanings of home, community and refuge at the heart of the research were refracted through the spaces constituted by the research team. By exploring the interplay between participants' accounts and the dynamics of the research team itself, they provide valuable resources for conceptualising emotional geographies of feminist research practice. Jacqui Gabb also investigates family circumstances that stray from the western ideal, questioning the nature of apparently (at least, linguistically) passionate and potentially sexualised relations between lesbian parents and their children. While the subject of women leaving abusive husbands may no longer be taboo in many cultures, feelings of passion towards children suggestive of incestÐhowever