Conspiracy theories and messianic populism in contemporary Brazil: a cultural semiotic perspective
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.1980-4016.esse.2021.180942Keywords:
Glocalization, Conspiracy theories, Digital populism, Messianism, BrazilAbstract
The aim of this paper is to analyze the bond between populism and conspiracy theories in contemporary Brazilian political context. Using a cultural-semiotic approach to the studies of glocalization, I tackle two recurrent motifs of global conspiracy theories: the domination of the elites over the people – which contributed, in 2018, to the election of Jair Bolsonaro – and the one of the leaders seem like national saviors. I argue that these particular narrative features have taken on, in Bolsonaro’s case, shapes and tones which are related to the local religious semiosphere, especially to the neo-Pentecostal evangelical messianism. Just as the discourses promoted by these figures, Bolsonaro’s messianic utterance is characterized by a high rate of mysticism, eschatology and aesthetic load.
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