Embodying Charismatic Affect(if): The example of Bruce Lee

While the concept of charisma is widely used in the social sciences, its embodied na-ture is less thoroughly explored and theorised. Thei s paper revisits the key embodiedcharacteristics of Weber's sociology of charisma and re-interprets these usingShilling's (2005, 2013) umbrella notions of the body as a source and location of andmeans for society as a way of analysing the idea of the charismatic body as a force forsocial change. It then draws on a range of embodied concepts to illuminate howcharisma is significc ant channel of infra and inter-corporeal aff e ctive interaction be-tween "leaders" and their followers. In particular, Freund's (2009) social synaesthesiaand bio-agency, Massumi's (2002) perspective of aff e ct and the moving body, Ther ifte' s(2010) charismatic celebrity, allure and glamour, Mellor and Shilling's (1997) sensualsolidarities, and Seyfert's (2012) conception of aff e ctif. To develop and illustrate thisperspective of the charismatically aff e ctive body in action, the life of ficl m star andmartial artist Bruce Lee (19>0–1973) is utilised.