Making Sense Workshop 3: Solitude

The Affective Experience Lab’s ‘Making Sense’ workshops bring together colleagues from across disciplines to reflect on keywords that relate to our shared interest in affect, emotion and embodiment.

Our third Making Sense workshop will be led by Dr Thuy-vy Nguyen (Psychology) and will focus on the subject of Solitude, bringing together different disciplinary perspectives.

In Psychology, solitude is studied as a temporary state of being away from social contacts or demands. Dr Nguyen’s research explores how solitude serves as an adaptive response to emotional and environmental stressors— making it particularly desirable during times of distress. Solitude can serve both as a form of escape and as a pursuit of something deeper and more purposeful – including spiritual solace. Historical perspectives, however, suggest that solitude was also once a privilege, primarily available to individuals with access to private rooms and personal space for religious or intellectual pursuits. Dr Nguyen suggests we read as a starting point for our discussion an article by Amanda Vickery , ‘An Englishman’s Home is his Castle’, which explores boundaries, thresholds and privacy in the eighteenth-century London house, suggesting that those with less control over their domestic environments may have sought solitude outside the home. Her discussion signals the evolution of physical spaces, opening up questions about loneliness and healthy solitude in contemporary society, and about shifting attitudes to this kind of affective experience.

Note: Light lunch will be provided.

The workshop is hosted by the Affective Experience Lab, led by Corinne Saunders and Fraser Riddell.