The role of affects and emotions

As part of the research initiative “Normalization of the extreme right”, of which Mojca Pajnik is a core group member, at Bielefeld University (Zentrum für interdisziplinäre Forschung, ZIF), 25-29 February, a workshop and a reading seminar was held on the role of affects and emotions in populism. We discussed the mobilization of emotions in far-right narratives and imaginaries and their roles in changing social norms. We analysed how affects and emotions facilitate the creation of a new “normality” as portrayed by the extreme right, by tearing down taboos and shifting the boundaries of the sayable. Among others, we analyzed the role of online platforms and social media in the affective mobilization of far-right actors.

Universität Bielefeld/P. Ottendörfer