Sticky Biomedical Objects: Affective Circulations in Twitter Discussions about Medicinal Cannabis

Abstract

This article combines qualitative and quantitative methods to examine affectivity in discussions on Twitter about the first years of a pilot programme for medicinal cannabis in Denmark. Starting in 2018, the pilot programme has been the object of much public discussion, including on social media. Drawing on data from the platform Twitter and affect theory from Sara Ahmed (2010 , 2014 ), the article uses a combination of computational methods and close readings to locate and analyse which topics in the debate are particularly affectively charged and what the implications of this affectivity are. The article argues that the circulation of affect here is rooted in wider negotiations and hierarchies of knowledge as this relates to medicine and bodies. In particular, ideas and discourses relating to evidence are circulated in the debate as an object of varying articulations of hopes, dreams, and frustration.