Emotionally Entwined Narratives: A Polyphonic Trialogue on Learning Disability History Research

Owen Barden ^1,2* Liz Tilley ³ Steven J. Walden ⁴ Sólveig Ólafsdóttir ⁵ Guðrún Valgerður Stefánsdóttir ⁵ Helena Gunnarsdóttir ⁵ Nathaniel Lawford ³

• ¹ Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool, United Kingdom
• ² Centre for Culture and Disability Studies, Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool, United Kingdom
• ³ The Open University (United Kingdom), Milton Keynes, England, United Kingdom
• ⁴ University of South Wales, Treforest, United Kingdom
• ⁵ University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland

This paper offers a critical analysis of the concept of "emotional community" in the context of our research into histories of learning disability • Emotional communities are places where people feel, express and make sense of emotions.They help us to understand that emotions are something we experience socially and not just individually. • The paper is presented in the form of a conversation between many researchers. This is what we mean by "polyphonic", which translates as "many voices". Some of us have learning disabilities, and some of us do not. • Although there are many voices, the authors belong to teams who worked on three learning disability history projects. Each team comprises researchers and self-advocates with learning disabilities and academics without. We use the word "trialogue" to mean discussion involving the three teams. • In the discussion, we first talk about what we mean by "emotional community". Then we talk about the purpose of emotional communities, and their "light" (good) and "dark" (bad) aspects. • We also talk about a process called "commoning", which is working to understand what we have in common. • This leads into a discussion of the ethics of emotional communities.• We conclude by reflecting on some of the possibilities and problems we see with emotional communities.