In this presentation, I discuss the methodology and findings of a formal SOTL (Scholarship of Teaching & Learning) study on classroom emotion(ality) interventions in a course at the University of British Columbia - MES300 The Middle East: Critical Questions & Debates. The course asks students to examine the troubled history of Middle East Studies (MES) and then work to decolonize and resituate the field within a social justice framework. Emotion(ality) was communicated as essential to this larger project and made manifest through the syllabus, ‘emotive short reads,’ and allocated times for openly emotive discussions. Most significantly, students were asked to produce multiple emotive writing assignments – individually and collectively – that reject a feigned ‘neutrality,’ reframe the role and mission of the (MES) intellectual, and allow for vital expressions of emotionality and positionality. Through focus groups, surveys, and interviews with students, the SOTL study evaluated the impact of these interventions in the MES classroom and beyond. Above all, it assessed the transformative potential of classroom emotion(ality) and emotive writing assignments on students’ ability to: a) Produce inclusive and just visions of the Middle East and MES; b) Upend inequitable academic conventions and ponder more equitable modes of expression; and c) Attend to their and each other’s emotional wellbeing in (MES) courses with traumatic subject matter and in fraught times more generally. The presentation will outline the risks and potential pitfalls of bringing emotion into the MES classroom, but ultimately will argue that doing so is vital to the transformation of MES and the creation of a more inclusive academic world. Most importantly, the study findings demonstrate the importance of classroom emotionality interventions to students and their emotional wellbeing. In particular, the study demonstrated how such interventions can open a critical space for marginalized students, especially those with connections to the region, to openly and honestly evince their experiences/perspectives without having to assume a conformist ‘academic’ voice that frequently obscures more than it illuminates.