[ecrea] conference: Political Discourse - Multidisciplinary Approaches #2: New discourses of populism and nationalism

status: CfP Call for papers
conference
Political Discourse - Multidisciplinary Approaches #2: New discourses of 
populism and nationalism
21.06.2018-22.06.2018
Edinburgh Napier University

Since the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom and the rise of Trump, Orbán 
and Le Pen, to name but a few, ‘populism’ has re-emerged as a common 
keyword in international news coverage. This term has become highly 
contested, often used to stigmatise political opponents. The current 
conflation of new right-wing politics with ‘populism’ backgrounds 
leftist mass movements such as Syriza in Greece and Podemos in Spain, 
despite a rich history of left wing populism. Others have argued that 
recent populisms transcend ideological orientations of left and right 
and open up a new political divide: ‘Farewell, left versus right. The 
contest that matters now is open against closed’.  (The Economist on 30 
June 2016).

The central common denominator of these diverse movements is an appeal 
to ‘the people’, often defined in ethno-national terms, which is 
contrasted with a corrupt, privileged and out-of-touch elite. Yet 
differences persist in how we understand populism, both in populist 
political approaches and in epistemological terms.  What do politicians 
in different countries mean by ‘the nation’ and ‘the people’ and how are 
these signifiers discursively or rhetorically constructed? Which social 
and political conditions are conducive to the emergence of populist 
movements? Which policies are suggested in the name of ‘the people’ 
today and which discursive or rhetorical strategies are now employed to 
justify them? What exactly do we, as discourse and rhetoric researchers, 
mean by ‘populism’ and how can we analyse it? Does populism refer to a 
specific political/linguistic/rhetorical practice (style), ideology or 
political logic (antagonisms)? What are the social, discursive and p
 olitical conditions of the so-called politics of ‘post-truth’?
In collaboration with Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, Brussels Office, and 
DiscourseNet, we are calling for contributions for a two-day conference 
to explore these questions. In order to understand the mechanisms of 
populist discourses, their rhetoric as well as their contextual 
conditions, we invite contributions from all fields involved in the 
study of discourse and rhetoric. This conference aims to generate a 
conversation among the diverse approaches to studying political 
discourse and rhetoric as well as to promote a comparative approach to 
the study of populism and nationalism as a global phenomenon.
This conference seeks to build bridges between academia and the world of 
political practice.  In support of an open discourse between academics 
and political activists the conference will feature a World Café (see 
for example 
http://www.theworldcafe.com/key-concepts-resources/world-cafe-method/) 
in addition to regular conference panels. All participants will be 
invited to produce a very short text (no more than 500 words) in ‘plain 
English’ to communicate key concepts and issues of populist and 
nationalist discourse/rhetoric from their research/work to a wider 
audience. These serve as the basis for discussions in the World Café and 
will later appear on the conference website alongside other items. 
Deadline for submission of the 500 words for accepted participants is 29 
May 2018.
Keynote speakers
Prof Michael Billig (Loughborough University) Prof Yannis Stavrakakis 
(Aristotle University of Thessaloniki)
Prof Felicitas Macgilchrist (Georg-Eckert-Institut, Braunschweig)

Contact person: Dr Michael Kranert
email: (m.kranert /at/ napier.ac.uk)
Address: The Business School
Edinburgh Napier University
Craiglockhart Campus, Room 4/03
219 Colinton Rd
Edinburgh EH14 1DJ


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