Social Media Communication and Right-Wing Populisms in Latin America and Beyond

Organised by the Centre for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS)

Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, Nayib Bukele in El Salvador and Javier Milei in Argentina are just a few paradigmatic cases which represent, to different degrees, the rise of populism, the advances of right-wing radicalism and the resurgence of extreme nationalism in Latin America in the last decade.

We use the term "right-wing populism" to refer, as some Latin Americanists have done, to the ideological conservative elements and national-populist influences, namely the construction of political antagonisms, alongside the explicit praise and support of local capitalist systems. The cohesive element at the regional level is the post-colonial historical situation: Latin America's colonial roots engendered a profoundly hierarchical society whose dominant classes have felt threatened by a series of recent rights advances on the part of minoritised groups, responding in reactionary terms. It is also common for these leaders to advocate for greater military investment, as well as speak nostalgically of the patriarchal order and hard-line security approaches that authoritarian regimes enacted in the past.

However, beyond these sociological aspects, the emergence of right-wing populist leaders as representatives of a mass phenomenon calls for in-depth studies of new forms of communication. How can a political project that defends the interests of a privileged few, namely white men, become a phenomenon that is radically defended by large sectors of the population? How does the study of the social media communication that is used by right-wing populisms inform us about broad processes of socio-political polarisation?

This conference will discuss how, through social media communication, Latin American right-wing populisms are configuring their own discourses, with regional particularities as well as global influences. This is a timely theme as Latin America’s right-wing populisms, which are under-researched compared to their Anglo-European equivalents, have expanded throughout the region and have built global connections. Over 2 days, the conference will place a particular focus on how social media communication exacerbates political polarisation, radicalisation, and violent political cultures through the study of the uses that political influencers and far-right populist sympathisers make of these media.

This is a multilingual conference, and presentations and discussions will be in English, Spanish, Portuguese (without simultaneous translation provided).

Download full programme (pdf)

The conference will be held in person on Day 1 and online on Day 2.
Registration fees:
Non-speaker in-person (day 1) Online (day 2) £25
ECR/unwaged in-person (day 1) Online (day 2) £15
Speaker/chair online (both days) Free
Speaker/chair in-person (day 1) Online in Senate House (day 2) Free
Speaker/chair in-person (day 1) Online (but NOT in Senate House) (day 2) Free

This is an event funded by the British Academy and hosted by the Centre for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, in collaboration with the Digital Humanities Research Hub, the Centre for the Politics of Feelings and the Institute of Language, Literature and Anthropology at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC).

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