Welcome at the Zukunftskolleg, CAT group!
We warmly welcome Valerio Coladonato (Assistant Professor - Film Studies Department, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy) and his CAT group at the Zukunftskolleg.
The group is joining us at the Zukunftskolleg for this week and will present their project entitled "Screen media, fiction and European populisms: research questions and methodological challenges of an interdisciplinary project " in today's Jour fixe.
Abstract of research project:
Narrative work is a crucial element of populist mobilization, especially through the lens of specific emotional discourses (pride, rage, fear). Nevertheless, while scholarship has focused increasingly on informative and digital media, the role of audiovisual fiction – films and TV series in particular – remains to be fully explored. Part of the difficulty lies in the interdisciplinary nature of the object: how can the tools of film and media studies (for the analysis of emotion and reception) be combined with the interpretation of contemporary populisms developed in political sciences? In this first presentation of the project “Screening European Populisms (2008-2020): Audiovisual Fiction, Social Media, and Political Affect”, we aim to identify the key methodological challenges in conducting a comparative analysis of the circulation of populist affect through fictional screen media content across five countries: Italy, France, Spain, Germany and the UK. In particular, we will reflect on the conceptual and methodological tools that can allow for a dialogue between media studies and political theory, in order (i) to identify relevant case studies from these countries; (ii) to define a rigorous method of analysis of the products themselves, accounting for the problematics of representation, circulation and reception; (iii) to embed in the design of the project itself elements of its potential social impact in the areas of media literacy and youth participation in politics.