Global Populism: Its Roots in Media and Religion| Islam as the Folk Devil: Hashtag Publics and the Fabrication of Civilizationism in a Post-Terror Populist Moment

Authors

  • Johanna Sumiala University of Helsinki
  • Anu A. Harju University of Helsinki
  • Emilia Palonen University of Helsinki

Keywords:

populist moment, Islam, hashtag publics, Twitter, civilizationism, Christianism, terror attack, Laclau

Abstract

With a focus on Twitter, this article investigates the populist moment triggered by a violent attack in the Northern European city of Turku, Finland, in August 2017. The article uses a mixed-method approach that applies a computational method for data collection and qualitative discursive mapping for data analysis. Moreover, the article applies Laclau’s non-essentialist framework for theorizing on populism in connection to religion and critically discusses the types of religious implications identified in the “us” constructed in negation to Islam and the discursively constructed “bad” Muslim Other. The article suggests “civilizationism” and the related “Christianism” as potential schemas for advancing scholarly theorizing on the digital intersections between populism and religion, particularly in the present Northern European political context.

Author Biographies

Johanna Sumiala, University of Helsinki

Associate ProfessorUniversity of HelsinkiFinland

Anu A. Harju, University of Helsinki

Postdoc Researcher Media and Communication StudiesUniversity of HelsinkiFinland

Emilia Palonen, University of Helsinki

Adjunct ProfessorPolitical ScienceUniversity of HelsinkiFinland

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Published

2023-04-04

Issue

Vol. 17 (2023)

Section

Special Sections

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