Skrevne emosjoner

Sammendrag

In this article I discuss emotions that informants in the archive Norwegian Ethnological Research (Norsk Etnologisk Gransking) have communicated in their written answers to a questionnaire on child freedom or voluntary childlessness. I will make no effort to define or categorise emotions, or to discuss whether they are universally or culturally based. Emotions will be seen rather as something that colour our notions and actions, something that are understood as cultural practices more than psychological conditions, and focus is on the making of emotions in meetings with certain topics. In this context, emotions will be a tarting point to understanding what is culturally accepted to communicate on a topic like eg. child freedom. The article discusses how emotions are communicated in a written questionnaire, how such expressions can be interpreted, and the logics that authorize the communicated emotions.