Short Abstract

Populism urgently needs to be rematerialized, that is, understood as inherently material. What are the objects, infrastructures, and ecologies participating in populist dynamics and how do they shape the leader, “the people,” and social polarization?

Long Abstract

At least since Brexit and Trump’s first term, populism in the Global North has been described as “postmaterialist” by some. That is, it is not considered as grounded in material realities of basic needs or class struggle, but in identity politics (or a reaction to it), nationalism, and racism. Further, a focus on the “post-truth” predicament in which many populist movements seem to thrive gives the impression that such movements are increasingly detached from material, factual reality.

This panel, however, suggests that populism, just like any political configuration, cannot be detached from the material world in and through which it develops. In other words, populist dynamics are inherently material, and specific materialities co-constitute the specific forms populism takes, including the figure of the charismatic leader, the formation of “the people,” and exacerbated social polarization. Thus, the aim of the panel is to rematerialize populism. It seeks to bring together ethnographies which focus on the material dimensions of different populist contexts throughout the world, including those often considered “postmaterialist.” These materialities may involve bodies, technologies, infrastructures, environments, and other. How do these aspects participate in shaping populist dynamics, and how are they shaped by populism in return?

To “rematerialize” populism in this way is not (or not simply) to return to a Marxist focus on class. Rather, it is about introducing kinds of materials which have always been neglected in political analyses, relegated to the roles of passive objects and instruments. The rematerialization envisaged here reflects the active power of matter in shaping “the people,” in supporting and threatening personalist leaders, in provoking social polarization. It is an urgent task to grasp the materialities of populist dynamics, in order to understand and engage more productively with contemporary populism.

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