Reading Group: Populist Media, Popular Culture, Political Theory
Organized by Joaquin Serpe and Giuseppe Fidotta
(Contact: jaserpe@gmail.com
giuseppe.fidotta@gmail.com)
GEM lab FB630.15, Concordia University
In the framework of the current global political scenario, the media have tried to raise concerns about “populism” by assembling under that label various and distinct movements and parties. In spite of the confusion created by the broad usage of the term, the concept of “populism” proves to be a challenging heuristic tool especially for the study of media. Therefore, the aim of this reading group will be to reconsider the term of populism, in the context of the present-day political climate, and to attempt to think of how different political projects and movements articulate the anxieties, desires, and tastes of the “people” into their discourses. Mirroring the 1970s New Left’s reconsideration of their own categories and abilities to mobilize popular sentiments in the light of the Neo-Con wave, the rise of a New Right impels us to reflect how ideas like the nation, the ethnic, or the regional are articulated and hegemonized by very different types of discourses and audiovisual media.
Winter meetings:
January 10th at 5:30pm - Global Icons, Postmodernism and New Audience Research - Discussion Leaders: Weixian Pan & Ylenia Olibet January 22nd at 5:30 pm - Andrejevic's "Infoglut" - Guest Speaker: Clemens Apprich (Leuphana University, Lüneburg, Germany) February 7th at 5:30 pm - Micheal De Certeau + Technotopia + Digital Populism - Discussion Leader: Piyusha Chaterjee
February 28th at 5:30 pm - Youth, Internet and Activism in East Asia - Guest Speaker: Michelle Cho (McGill)
March 22nd at 5:30 pm - TBA Workshop - April 13th & 14th Guest speakers: Bishnupriya Ghosh (UCSB), Jason Pine (Purchase College - SUNY) and Dilip Parameshwar Gaonkar (Northwestern)