Populism and Practices of Othering

To address the issue of populism and practices of othering, research teams from 7 EU countries (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Italy, Slovenia, UK) have conducted literature reviews on populism in Europe and mapped populist groups and debates, as well as educational good practices in the field of citizenship and media education. The research has been focused on new media as platforms for mobilization of populist organisations. Interviews with protagonists of populist parties and movements and discourse analyses of websites across the EU countries show that othering is the most important feature of contemporary populism and that websites and social media have a decisive role in spreading messages that exclude “the other”. In this context, the main purpose of the project is to deconstruct populism and racism transmitted through digital media and social networks by promoting young people’s awareness towards violent media contents and empowering them through civic engagement (or also e-engagement) and media/digital literacy. Several publications are planned to be issued and some events (in Slovenia, other involved countries and in Belgium, particularly in Brussels) will be organized in the next months.

You are kindly invited to visit the project’s website.