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- Convenor:
-
Sam Rumé
(University of Barcelona)
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- Format:
- Traditional Open Panel
Short Abstract
This panel enquires into the neglected material dimensions of populism, understanding populist dynamics as materially contingent. Perspectives from political theory are thus complemented by STS sensibilities concerning material (e.g. technological, infrastructural, environmental) agencies.
Description
Conceptualizations of populism tend to focus on the performativity of charismatic leaders and crowds, discursive and affective articulations, and the epistemological issues of extremist ideas (think of conspiracy theories and “post-truth”). The materiality of these dynamics is thereby often neglected. This panel aims to make up for this lack and take materiality seriously as constitutive of populist processes. Adapting Bruce Braun and Sarah Whatmore’s reflections on “the stuff of politics” to the specific case of populism, the panel enquires into the material make-up of populist movements and ideas. Rather than challenging conceptualizations in terms of discourse and affect, what we propose is to link these dimensions to the materialities that provoke, mediate, and interrupt them. This might include matter ranging from climatic events to new technologies and infrastructures. We depart from the simple suggestion that populism does not arise in “social” spheres disconnected from the world, but in and through specific material conditions. Thus, how do these materials contribute to the shape populism takes? And how is the world materially transformed in return? To address these questions is to bring the sensibilities and frameworks of STS to bear on the often-abstract reflections of political theory, rendering them more tangible and contingent. We welcome papers that explore one or more material aspects in specific populist contexts – understanding both “materiality” and “populism” in a broad sense. For instance, papers may address the role of digital and other infrastructures in enacting “the people,” the technologies of personalist rule, the construction of “alternative facts”, or the environmental realities shaping and being shaped by populist movements.