Course

Populism research is one of the new must-know areas within the Humanities and Social sciences. In this new course, you are introduced to the main theories and concepts of academic populism research, with a focus on contemporary populism.

The main threads running through the course are questions of democracy, civic participation, and ethics. The overarching objective is to reflect on and to apply rhetoric as an interpretative key to the various phenomena involved in the attraction of populist movements, and in their activities and general societal influence.

The course consists of a series of seminars, each with a different angle on populism. Topics planned for the course are: Populism and Propaganda, Populism and Media, Right-wing populism, Left-wing populism, Populism and (trans)nationalism, and Hate Speech.

After the course, you will be able independently and critically to analyse and evaluate populist communication in different media and contexts. Furthermore, you can discuss and suggest a critical take on populist communication in relationship with democracy and truth-claims on the one hand, and a constructive understanding of the same based on rhetorical research, on the other.

Examination takes the form of both a reading-log of the literature and a case-study of one expression of populism in current or recent times, such as a political party or a social movement.