Affective practices and embodied cultural performances: creating atmospheres at Hanfu festivals

Abstract

While much of the literature on affective atmospheres has focused on how individuals feel them, the active role of the expressive body remains underexplored in the geographies of atmosphere. This paper examines how atmospheres are both experienced and produced through bodily practices of affecting and being affected. Drawing on photo-elicitation interviews and participant observation, we explore how Hanfu (traditional clothing of the Han Chinese) wearers engage with atmospheres at two Hanfu festivals in Wenshu Square in Chengdu, China. We illustrate how Hanfu participants connect with humans and nonhumans, embody cultural values, and give meanings to the heritage space through situated and relational performative practices. Affective atmospheres are produced and transmitted via these embodied, sensory and emotional resonances, through which intensity flows, settles, and transforms. By also attending to moments where individuals experience non-engagement, we argue that affective atmospheres are amplified through (self-)performances that feel authentic, recognized, and resonant to those involved. These lived affective dynamics – materialized through the felt-expressive duality of bodies – underscore the importance of cultivating public spaces not only as inclusive sites for physical gathering but also as empathetic spaces that embrace diverse experiences and emotional attunement, support sustained participation, and nurture collectivity and attachment through affective atmospheres.

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