Rethinking social movements with the sociology of emotions: Political possibilities of mourning and melancholia in the dilemma of representation

This thesis, which includes emotions in the analysis of social movements, problematizes the exclusion of emotions in the social movements literature. It is claimed here that sociology of social movements should focus more on the individual sentiments and emotions. On the other hand, it is argued that one of the most convenient areas where emotions can be investigated sociologically is social movements. This thesis has examined the fields which are made invisible in the existing social movements literature with regards to representation and emotion. There are certain lines between the concepts of representation, apparatus of representation, unrepresentability and repertoire of contention, sources and motivations of protesters. The theoretical and practical studies on emotions from different disciplines were reviewed in order to find the possibilities of an ethical and practical theory of emotions. Supported by all these theoretical debates, this thesis strives to analyze various social movement examples from Turkey with regards to emotion and representation and more broadly focuses on the enforced disappearences as an emotional intensity device and Saturday Mothers movement as the result of them and the movement's circulation of emotions.