The Appeal of the Banal: Populist Leaders' Visual Performances on Social Media. Case Studies in Eastern Europe

Abstract

This panel sheds light on the seemingly meaningless and profane actions of populist actors in different European countries - what we call ‘Banana Populism’ - in order to mobilise (electoral) support. These often banal and seemingly benign rhetorical and performative acts might not be seen as strictly political at first sight, but are actually key to populists’ political success. Through these, populist actors aim to appeal to the people and construct images of themselves as a ‘man or woman of the people’. The concept of Banana Populism relies on an understanding of populism as a political style (Moffit, 2016), through which politicians aim to appeal to the people via traditional and social media and connect ‘serious’ politics with everyday life. We furthermore embrace the post-foundationalist approach towards populism (Laclau, 2005), in which populism is an articulatory practice that reproduces the identity of ‘the people,’ or an ‘us,’ that relies on its differentiation from ‘the elite,’ or ‘the other.’ The aim of the different papers included in this panel is to present an analysis of how seemingly banal content posted by populists on Social Media entertain and create (positive) attention, contribute to an intimate bond between populists and their followers, help populists to publicly present themselves as a likeable ‘common person’ and therefore decisively contribute to the mainstreaming of their (partly extremist) political positions. The papers will explore cases from the Czech Republic (Hartikainen), Germany (Schmalenberger), Hungary (Szebeni), and Ukraine (Cole).

Title	Details
”It feels good to clean” – Performing femininity in Hungarian politics	View Paper Details
Haf haf! The role of dogs in Czech populist political communication on social media	View Paper Details
"Do you recognise me?" A Visual Analysis of Ukrainian Political Leaders' Self-representations on Instagram	View Paper Details