Decolonizing affect: Resonance as an ethnographic technique

This article is a call to decolonize affect theory through deep-ening its engagement with fieldwork conducted in the globalSouth. It examines the native Chinese concept of ganying, orresonance, as an ethnographic technique by engaging withthe author’s fieldwork experiences among Body Mind Spiritpractitioners in China. Participating in ganying captures theformation of affective atmospheres through the ethnogra-pher’s involvement in their co-creation. Where attunementfunctions as a normative ideal, resonance becomes a tech-nique of embodying responsiveness and cultivating intimacythat supports efforts to narrativize affect. Examining thegenealogy of ganying and its ethnographic applications revealsthis concept’s alignment with influential theorizations thatin recent decades have been constructed as “new” and“paradigm shifting” contributions to the affective turn. Itcautions against the risks of erasure resulting from suchEurocentric negligence of kindred notions circulated inscholarly and vernacular contexts outside of the globalNorth.