Violent Affections

Violent Affections uncovers techniques of power that work to translate emotions into violence against queer people. Based on analysis of over 300 criminal cases of anti-queer violence in Russia before and after the introduction of ‘gay propaganda’ law, the book shows how violent acts are framed in emotional language by perpetrators during their criminal trials. It then utilises an original methodology of studying ‘legal memes’ and argues that these individual affective states are directly connected to the political violence aimed at queer lives more generally.

The main aim of Violent Affections is to explore the social mechanisms and techniques that impact anti-queer violence evidenced in the reviewed cases. Alexander Sasha Kondakov expands upon two sets of interdisciplinary literature – queer theory and affect theory – in order to conceptualise what is referred to as neo-disciplinary power. Taking the empirical observations from Russia as a starting point, he develops an original explanation of how contemporary power relations are changing from those of late modernity as envisioned by Foucault’s Panopticon to neo-disciplinary power relations of a much more fragmented, fluid and unstructured kind – the Memeticon.
The book traces how exactly affections circulate from body to body as a kind of virus and eventually invade the body that responds with violence. In this analytic effort, it draws on the arguments from memetics – the theory of how pieces of information pass on from one body to another as they thrive to survive by continuing to resonate. This work makes the argument truly interdisciplinary.

Praise for Violent Affections

‘Violent Affections strongly contributes to queer criminology and the evolution of discourse in contemporary society.’
Journal of Homosexuality

‘Can a book save lives? This book may well do so… With this new, open-access book Kondakov consolidates his extensive investigation into homophobic and transphobic hate crime against Russians, with a fresh and ambitious analysis that makes important advances for Russian queer studies.’
The Russian Review

‘Kondakov shows how the anti-gay rhetoric of the state seeps into violent affections in ways that are highly de-centralized. In this way, Kondakov updates Michel Foucault’s Panoptican with the mimeticon, giving us a way to think not just about violence against LGBTQ populations in Russia, but how to think about state power and our deepest, darkest emotions more generally’
Laurie Essig, Professor, Director of the Program in Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies, Middlebury College, USA

‘a very engaging read that contributes to a better understanding of the essence and dynamics of Russian socio-political pushback against non-heteronormative practices and identities.’
Contemporary Sociology

‘an outstanding contribution to queer criminology, to the application of meme-tics and affect theory, and to the study of the lives of LGBT+ people in Russia. It will be invaluable reading for a wide range of audiences.’
American Journal of Sociology

‘While Putin may have hoped that the 2013 ‘gay propaganda law’ would render queerness in Russia invisible, the unintended consequence of the legislation has been to generate hundreds of media articles and academic publications, which have focused greater attention upon the country’s sexual and gender diversity than ever before. Among the best of these analyses is Alexander Sasha Kondakov’s Violent Affections.’
Slavic Review