AP/ANTH 3380 3.00 The Everyday Politics of Rage: Anthropological Perspectives on Populism
The focus of this course is populism, political radicalism, the alt/new right, concepts that have generated a great deal of discussion and debate in media, academia and in everyday conversation. It has been used to describe authoritarian populist leaders including Recep Erdogan in Turkey, Viktor Orban in Hungary, Lula da Silva in Mexico, Narendra Modi of India, Doug Ford (“Ford Nation”) in Ontario, and of course, Donald Trump in the U.S. (and the list is growing). It also describes radical right-wing political parties such as Jobbik in Hungary, AFD party in Germany and the Front National in France, People’s Party of Canada, current Republican trends in the U.S., Christian nationalism, white nationalism and anti-immigration movements. But the term “populist” is also applied to anti-racist, environmental and social justice movements like Black Lives Matter and Idle No More and to climate activists like Greta Thunberg.
The rise of the ‘extreme right’ or ‘nationalist right’ ‘alt-right’, ‘alt- left’, neo-Nazi and the ‘f-word’=> fascism, therefore requires careful analysis. There are many explanations for the rise in populism – globalization, growing gaps in wealth, the impacts of climate change, war and conflict, dislocation and uncertainty. Social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram feature ‘influencers’ such as “Tradwife”, anxious to grab eyeballs, sponsor$, and in many cases, power as opinion leaders.
Our first goal is to understand the tactics and the social conditions that give rise to the emergence and spread of populist movements. A second goal is to unpack the complex relationships between the rise of populism and the socio-political processes that are at their core.
Critical thinking is the key focus of this course, and a major component is media literacy. How do you discriminate between legitimate media and so-called “fake news” as modes of communication and sources of information? We use an anthropological lens to investigate the appeal of these movements to people who mobilize, vote for, protest against or agitate for their social, political and economic goals no matter where (or even if) they fall on the political spectrum of “right” or “left”.
Course Director (Fall 2024): D. Winland - winland@yorku.ca