Abstract

Since the affective turn in the social sciences, the mind-body dualism which affect theory was designed to overcome lingers in writings about affect and the body. To overcome this dualism, I rely on Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari’s philosophy and map out their becomings in a third region of emerging and circulating affects. At the same time, I criticize Deleuze and Guattari for portraying becoming as intensely physical and yet not considering it through actual physical practice. I argue that dance practice is an experiment in becoming and affect, and I develop a concrete and affective illustration of becoming through empirical research on pole dance practice, especially focusing on the phenomenon of bruising.