Unhappiness and its metaphors

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to contribute to critical discussions on depression from the perspective of feminist and queer affect theory. Depression is too often characterized as a neurochemical imbalance or a personal dysfunction, even though it is one of the most topical and pressing problems of today’s world. Drawing on the notions of precariousness and self-precariousness, I seek to counter the oppressive and pathologizing character of this common assumption, and to address the problem from a broader critical perspective. However, if depression is to be understood as a political problem, should it have a political response? In order to unfold these issues, the present work is structured in two stages. First, I explore the tension between the concepts of pathologization, victimization and the possibility of resistance, attempting to blur dichotomies that prove to be of little use to the issue of agency. Secondly, I delve into the manifesto as a means of textual intervention and political action. To that end, I analyze texts written by Ann Cvetkovich and Sara Ahmed, that could be regarded as feminist “depression manifestos”, for they both —each in their own way— tackle contemporary patterns of unhappiness and expose their political nature.