History of emotions: paths and challenges

This overview of the history of emotions begins by historicizing the field, starting with Lucien Febvre and his predecessors. After arguing that the current emotions boom is part of a post-poststructuralist conjuncture, it introduces some key concepts, including Barbara Rosenwein's "emotional communities," William Reddy's "emotional regime," and Monique Scheer's "emotional practices." The article next sketches future directions the history of emotions might take and closes by warning about facile appropriations from affective neuroscience.