Introduction to UNPOP Research & Emotion Narrative Theory
January, 2024, 10h00 (GMT Lisbon/London)
Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences of University of Coimbra
Speaker:
Cristiano Gianolla (CES-UC)
The social sciences and humanities have generated copious but fragmented evidence about the relationship between emotions, intergroup identity formation and political behaviour. The increasing propagation and impact of affective polarisation, exclusionary populism and extremist political forces, urges the elaboration of hypothesis generating theory. Why does up to half of the population of many countries support political phenomena that the other half repudiates? A proper theory is needed to study what processes underlie the entanglement of emotions generated or enhanced by multiple social identities (self-definition and positioning), their meanings and values in shaping political behaviours. ‘Emotion Narrative Theory’ is elaborated through an interdisciplinary review of relevant emotion theories, in order to overcome moralistic approaches to political behaviour, populism and the dualism of reason and emotion. It is operationalised through understanding political narratives as political mythologies providing cognitive-emotional grounding.
Bio notes
Cristiano Gianolla is a researcher at the Centre for Social Studies (CES) of the University of Coimbra (UC), where he integrates research thematic line on Democracy, Justice and Human Rights. He obtained a PhD in Sociology and Political Science (cum Laude, Coimbra and Rome-Sapienza) by way of a dissertation on Gandhi’s democratic theory and a comparative study of emerging political parties in India and Italy. Cristiano is the Principal Investigator of the UNPOP project (FCT, 2021-2024) and PI and WP leader of PROTEMO (HEU, 2024-2026) and of CO3 (HEU, 2024-2027) projects. He was a team member of the ECHOES (H2020, 2018-2021), ALICE (ERC, 2011-2016) and FRANET (2021-2022) projects. He is a co-founding and co-coordinating member of the “Inter-Thematic group on Migrations” and co-coordinates the research programme “Epistemologies of the South” at CES. He is coordinating editor of Alice News, editor of e-cadernos scientific journal and a reviewer for scientific journals. Cristiano co-coordinates the PhD course “Democratic Theories and Institutions” and the MA course “Critical Intercultural Dialogue” at the Faculty of Economics of the UC, where he also teaches on the PhD course “State, Democracy and Legal Pluralism”. His publications include authored and organised books, chapters and articles on democratic theory, populism, emotion, narrative, post-colonialism, intercultural dialogue, citizenship and migrations.
Exclusionary populist attitude scale
Speaker:
Lisete Mónico (FPCE-UC)
Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences of University of Coimbra
Populist attitude scales are used to measure the level of populist appetence at the individual level in the population. They emerged and consolidated for more than a decade and generally measure three dimensions: anti-elitism, people-centrism and anti-pluralism (as homogeneity of the people). These scales are used throughout the political spectrum; however, populism is often studied in relation to extremist and exclusionary formations and this dimension fails to be measured in existing scales. To fill this gap, the Exclusionary Populist Attitudes Scale (EPAS) is proposed, with a reinforced measure of anti-pluralism (with a stronger cultural dimension) and chauvinism as a fourth dimension. This scale was designed, tested and validated in order to constitute it as a useful interest to measure exclusionary populism in Portugal and Italy.
Bio notes
Lisete S. M. Mónico, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences of the University of Coimbra, Portugal, Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Coimbra, European Diploma of Advanced Studies in Social Psychology (DEEAPS, Università degli Studi di Bari), teaches courses in Research Methods and Social Psychology since 1999. Current Mobility Coordinator and Coordinator of the BSc in Psychology at the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences of the University of Coimbra. Member of The Center for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive and Behavioral Intervention (CINEICC), dedicates her professional activity to research in the field of Social Sciences, especially applied social psychology to organizational and entrepreneurial behaviour, psychosocial dimensions of religious behavior, and (inter)personal processes related to the self. Author of several books, book chapters, and articles in international peer-reviewed journals.
Ideology vs populism in the emotion narratives of the portuguese Left
Speaker:
Manuel João Cruz (CES-UC)
Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences of University of Coimbra
Both in Europe and Portugal, far-right populism has been expanding. There is some empirical evidence that reports an association between populism and emotions, mostly negative, and populism and political values. This study investigates right-wing populism in Portugal, focusing on the CHEGA party. It examines the links between populism, emotions (positive and negative), political values, and the role of family in the political involvement. The research seeks to unravel how emotions generated in family dynamics fuel political participation and intergroup relations, potentially shaping the contours of right-wing populist movements in Portugal. Moreover, the study seeks to understand the political behavior of people who are actively engaged in far-right populism and explore how these individuals develop an interest and engagement in such parties.
Bio notes
Manuel João Cruz has a degree in Communication Sciences from the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, a Master’s degree in Applied Communication from the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu and is a PhD candidate in Communication Sciences at the Faculty of Arts, University of Coimbra. He is currently studying political narratives and the populist narrative of Chega. He works in the area of Social Sciences with emphasis on Communication Sciences and Political Science. He is the author of several articles on Disinformation and Fake News, as well as a book chapter on education in Higher Education. He is part of the Twentieth Century Populism Observatory team as a junior researcher. He is also a researcher at the Center for Social Studies (CES) at the University of Coimbra (UC), where he integrates the thematic line of Democracy, Justice and Human Rights. At CES, Manuel João Cruz is part of the project “UNPOP: Dismantling Populism: Comparing the formation of narratives of emotion and their effects on political behavior”. Main research interests: Media, Populism, Democracy, Narrative Studies.
Populism, narratives and emotions: a Systematic Review and metaanalysis
Speaker:
Izabel Weber (CES-UC)
Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences of University of Coimbra
The emotional dimension of populism has always been a common subject in different fields. In recent years, there has been an increase in academic works highlighting how emotions affect peoples’ political decisions. However, most either suggest the dichotomic existence of emotion and cognition or merely focus on the descriptive aspect of emotion (positive or negative). Emotion Narrative Theory builds on a discursive and non-dualistic approach. This allows us to overcome its mechanistic approach to political discourses and its impacts on political behaviour. To assess how the existing literature engages with this line of research, the three dimensions of populism, emotion, and narrative are explored in a systematic review, adopting the PRISMA 2020 statements. A meta-analysis assesses which methods have been operationalised to investigate this intersection. Results facilitate an understanding of how populist emotion narratives impact collective political behaviour and identifies ways to bring this research strand forward, both theoretically and methodologically.
Bio notes
Despite my experience of more than 20 years in the Brazilian public service as a Public Policy Manager, I have always maintained contact with the academic world. Currently, I am a PhD candidate in Political Science in the Joint PhD Program between the Center for Social Studies (CES) and the Faculty of Economics (Feuc), University of Coimbra (UC), “Democracy in the XXI Century”, Coimbra, Portugal and I work as a Researcher in the Unpop Project (CES/UC). My research path has always been indirectly focused on the scope of the Unpop project. In undergraduate studies, my first research work involved the comparison of political representation scenarios in Brazil and Mexico, where we analyzed how the public construction of political meanings impacted the electoral process. In my master’s dissertation, I analyzed the influence of authoritarian thought of some authors absorbed by the institutional apparatus of the Estado Novo during Getúlio Vargas. Now, in my doctoral work, I explore the emotional impact of structural violence on certain populations, through a study of the changing epidemiological profile of suicide in the last thirty years.
Understanding populist far-right anti-immigration and anti-gender stances beyond the paradigm of gender as ‘a symbolic glue’: Giorgia Meloni’s modern motherhood, neo-Catholicism, and reproductive racism
Speaker:
Gaia Giuliani (CES-UC)
Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences of University of Coimbra
This study focused on the first female prime minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, as an entry point to examine the alignment between far-right populism, anti-gender movements, and white supremacist conspiracy theories in Europe. To pursue this objective, it positioned Meloni’s communication strategies and political interventions vis-à-vis her counterparts in Europe; and examined Meloni’s birth rate agenda and related ambivalent stance towards ‘migrant’ women. By doing so, it demonstrated how existing theoretical frameworks developed to examine the entanglement of feminist, anti-gender, and anti-immigration discourses fall short of explaining why ‘gender’ can be used to ‘stick’ ‘migrant’ and queer subjects together. It also demonstrated that, even when ‘migrant’ women are depicted as hopeless victims, populist far-right leaders such as Meloni appraise them as either aberrant or otherwise deficient mothers.
Bio notes
I am a permanent researcher at the Centre for Social Studies. I obtained my PhD in History of political ideas (University Turin 2005) and in 2018 I was awarded the honorary title of Associate professor in Political philosophy (issued by the Italian Ministry of Education). Since 2001, my research capacities and teaching methodologies have continuously developed across diverse areas, including cultural, postcolonial and gender studies, in addition to political philosophy and critical race studies. For my expertise in transdisciplinary research I was invited to join the international board of the PhD programme in Social Sciences at the University of Padua (2022). In 2007, I was awarded a 3-months Marco Polo Fellowship issued by the University of Bologna, hosted by the University of Technology Sydney [UTS] and a full-time postdoc fellowship hosted by the University of Bologna (2007-9) to continue my research activities at UTS. I subsequently received the prestigious Endeavour Research Fellowship (2009-10), a full-time postdoc funded by the Australian Ministry of Education and hosted by UTS. Between 2010-15, I was a visiting scholar at several Departments of sociology (Leeds, Goldsmiths College, and Cambridge) giving seminars/lectures, and undergraduate supervisor in a sociology course on racism at Cambridge. In 2015, I was granted a FCT 6 year postdoctoral fellowship followed by a full-time contract as researcher (2019), both at CES. My visiting activities have continued since (University of Padua, 2017; Fordham University and University of London, Birkbeck College, in 2018; and University of Venice Ca’ Foscari 2022-2023) and opened solid and long-lasting scientific collaborations. Since 2001, I have also lead, coordinated, participated in, an evaluated (as an international expert), several inter/national, EC projects/networks (FP; Horizon; AG; COST Actions), articulating synergies with other projects, consulting, participating in collaborative research and organising academic events. Last but not least, I have a 22 years long track of teaching and coordinate BA/MA/PhD courses at an international level (Italy, the UK and Portugal, besides dozens of PhD and MA seminars wordwide – i.e. India, Brazil, Australia, the US, Canada, Italy, Northern, Cantral, Souther, and Western Europe). My innovative work in postcolonial, gender and critical race studies has informed a generation of social science and humanities scholars working on the Italian nation-building process, colonialism and racial identity. Besides publications with/in prestigious international publishing houses and international academic journals, my scholarship, and especially my monographic books “Bianco e nero” (2013), “Race, Nation and Gender in Modern Italy” (2019), which won respectively the 2013 ‘Best book’ award for the category of 20-21st centuries issued by the American Association for Italian Studies; and the 5th place Ex Aequo, 2019 Edinburgh Gadda Prize, together with the edited book “Il colore della nazione” (2015) have since placed me as one of the main references in Italian studies. For the first time cultural studies and postcolonial theory frameworks were joined to shed light on the Italian case, and particularly on the cultural politics of social phenomena. These books and essays have been compulsory readings in social sciences/humanities courses and key reference for MA/PhD – in several countries in EU, CA, AUS, & the US. More recently, my research also focused on the under-siege mentality that in Europe developed in the context of global crises. Connecting global migrations, terrorism and human/environmental catastrophes, my research focused on an understanding of increasing fears and moral panic connected to an alleged loss of identity and well-being. It has culminated in several publications, among which my last monographe, “Monsters, catastrophes and the Anthropocene” (2021), received great international attention and, since its publication and through its wide international dissemination, also allowed me to become a reference within environmental humanities.
‘Merit’ vs ‘participation’ in the religious emotion narrative of the far right
Speaker:
Giovanni Allegretti(CES-UC)
Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences of University of Coimbra
Pope Francis increasingly reflects on ‘participation’. He goes beyond the limits of spiritual commitment in the community of believers and touches on the spheres of lay commitment of Christians in political-social communities. Unlike his predecessors, he sees participation and subsidiarity as ‘circular’, linking them to solidarity, dignity and emancipation. Participation in the construction of policies, politics and communities promotes the integral development of individuals, especially the most vulnerable. It is a space to build forms of cognitive justice, to promote pluralism of ideas, to compare different positions and to value minorities and vulnerable groups. Far-right parties, including those that explicitly refer to Catholicism as a core element of their cultural identity, ignore these approaches. The discourse of the far right privileges ‘merit’ over ‘participation’, regardless of the critique of meritocracy proposed by Pope Francis. Given the influence of religion on political mythology and behaviour, there is a need to study these different socio-political interpretations of such concepts and their political implications.
Bio notes
With a degree in Architecture and a PhD in Urban, Territorial, and Environmental Planning from the University of Florence (Italy), he is a senior researcher at the Center for Social Studies at the University of Coimbra, and is part of the Center for Democracy, Citizenship, and Law Studies.
Since 2014 he has been qualified as an associate professor in Italy, where he previously taught Urban Management and Land and Settlement Analysis at the University of Florence.
He is currently Co-Coordinator of the PhD program “Democracy in the 21st century” at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Coimbra (FEUC). His main areas of research include citizen participation in the management of budgeting and territorial transformations, on which he has numerous publications in several languages. He also works on topics such as the informal city and the self-production of habitat, the right to the city, the practices of ‘insurgent citizenship’ and networks of cities in the international arena. Portuguese representative at COST “Constitution-making and deliberative democracy” (CA17135), he is an active member of the Standing Group on “Democratic Innovations” at the European Consortium of Political Research (ECPR), of the United Cities and Local Governments Commission on Social Inclusion, Participatory Democracy and Human Rights and of the International Observatory on Participatory Democracy (IOPD).
Coordinator of several research projects that resulted in the organization and publication of books and scientific articles, he has also been a trainer, consultant, and evaluator of participatory processes in more than 50 countries on 5 continents, both for civic organizations and public administrations, and for international institutions such as the World Bank, UCLG, the European Commission, and the Council of Europe.
In the 2014-2019 term he was co-chair of the Independent Authority for Assurance and Promotion of Participation of the Tuscany Region (Italy).
