“Break out” – learning about disability and the inclusive city through emotion and affect

This article discusses the role of affect and emotion in teaching and learning by drawing on the case of an interdisciplinary, arts-based, and participatory educational project, “Break Out”/“Show Yourself”. The case entails a collaboration between people with multiple physical impairments, students from the Geography and Planning degree programme (and later also from the Liberal Arts and Sciences programme) at the University of Groningen, and students from the Art Academy Minerva, also in Groningen. The article draws on a rich data set of student reflections, students’ fieldwork photos and photos of their visual storytelling through knowledge sharing activities. Using an “Affective Pedagogies framework”, the article discusses different spaces in which students engaged in learning about disability and the inclusive city through emotion and affect. It highlights the way in which learning spaces might allow for struggle, joy as well as discomfort, as necessary for learning.