Revolutionary Emotions: A Content Analysis of Emotional Engagement for Revolution

My primary aim in this study is to come to terms with the role of emotions in the maintenance of revolutionary conflict and violence.  This role shall be ascertained from the “contextual point” of participant testimonies about their revolutionary experiences. The focus on context necessarily means that I consider the memories of experienced revolutionary events as significant autobiographical moments.  As such, the proposed project shall pay close attention to the subjective meanings associated with significant revolutionary events, e.g., moral shocks, assassination of leaders, spontaneous rebellions, guerrilla attacks, and arbitrary state repression.  This research endeavor will address the following questions:  What specific emotions are at play in the emergence and maintenance of revolutionary activism? What kinds of events animate revolutionary conflict?

To answer these questions, I will evaluate and perform a content analysis of ¡Y Se Armó La Runga!, a collection of testimonies in book form developed by members of the Instituto de Estudios del Sandinismo (IES 1982).