Comparative Data Analysis in Political Aesthetic Strategies: The Persuasive Propaganda of the Italian Populist Right on Facebook and Twitter

This research project informs an essential part of my broader doctoral research which investigates the aesthetic and rhetoric practices developed by today’s far-right populist movements for their propaganda and communication on social media. Working along with Professor Vijay Mago and DaTALab researchers I will generate, collect, and analyse a wide range of new and original data drawn from Facebook and Twitter. These data will inform and integrate my theories concerning the interpretation of the social, political, and cultural basis of the renewed consensus gained by today’s far-right organisations. They will also provide evidence to support my discussion around the persuasive potential of the aesthetic strategies implemented by far-right organisations online. The focus is on the Italian scenario, which is considered an interesting and under-researched example of the new rise of far-right populist movements in the last decade, from the margins to the mainstream. This project brings together research methodologies in the arts and humanities with social media theory and data analysis to develop an interdisciplinary approach for the investigation of today’s society issues and challenges from a multifaceted and innovative perspective.

Faculty Supervisor:

Vijay Mago

Student:

Partner:

University of Bristol

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

New and Digital Media; Information and Communications Technology; Other

University:

Lakehead University

Program: