Decolonising affect: Towards a feminist theory of political friendship

Using a decolonial feminist perspective, this article develops a theory of political friendship grounded in the tensions faced by white and racialised women when building affective networks for feminist action. It argues that hegemonic feminism, by failing to interrogate the colonial nature of the power geometries that shape affective capacities, reproduces exclusionary dynamics within the political friendships it seeks to promote. Drawing on Judith Butler's notion of the differential distribution of mourning and Nelson Maldonado-Torres's concept of the coloniality of being, the article introduces the notion of the coloniality of affect to explain how colonial power patterns expel those who inhabit colonial difference from the affective field, thereby obstructing the formation of reciprocal affective ties between white and racialised women within feminism. We propose revolutionary love as a methodological tool for decolonising feminist friendship and advancing toward coalitions against multiple forms of oppression.