Title: The Populist Body in the Age of Social Media: a Comparative Study of Populist and Non-Populist Representation Author: María Esperanza Casullo (UNRN-Argentina)
[email protected] Abstract: Populist representation depends on the establishment of a charismatic bond between the leader and the followers. In the charismatic-populist relation, the body of the leader becomes the very signifier upon the trust and belief of the followers are inscribed--it thus becomes a symbol or signifer in Laclau's term (2005). The body of the leader thus performs three key functions: it mirrors specific 'low' traits (Ostiguy 2009) of the people (Diehl 2017); simultaneously, it must signify the exceptionality and distance of the leader from the followers; lastly, it must appropriate the symbols of power of the particular political position she is occupying. These tasks are performed through particular ways of dressing, talking, eating, etc. Social media has become a key locus for bodily self presentation, since it is used to create the appearance of intimacy and spontaneity through the distribution of 'candid' pictures, videos, and the like. This paper will analyse how the self-presentation of populist-leaders is conducted through Twitter and Facebook, what images they choose the disseminate and how they are re-signified by the audience. The paper will focus on the presidential campaigns of three Latin American politicians: Evo Morales and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (two populists) and Mauricio Macri from Argentina (who is not), as a way to establish a comparison between populist and non populist bodily image. Populist Representation: Performance, Body Synecdoque and Self-Transcendence With populism on the rise throughout the world, we are living in the midst of a surge in interest around the phenomenon of populist leadership.