International Recognition for Sentimental States: Global Politics, Affect and Belonging

Big news: The edited volume “Sentimental States” has been ranked #2 in the Top 5 Books of the International Affairs January 2026 list. Published by Transcript Verlag, the book brings together an outstanding group of international scholars in cooperation with our DFG Research Training Group 2726, “The Sentimental in Literature, Culture, and Politics”, to examine how sentimentality manifests as a force shaping politics of order and belonging across the globe. We are sincerely grateful to the reviewer Kathryn Starnes of Manchester Metropolitan University and of course to our editors and co-authors, American Studies professor Heike Paul and sociologist Sarah Pritz, for assembling such an inspiring international research collective, one in which our Chair of Middle East Politics and Society, here Thomas Demmelhuber and Antonia Thies, had the privilege to contribute chapters of their own.