Whirl of Knowledge

Cultural Populism in European Polarised Politics and Societies (WhiKnow)

Emilia Palonen and Virpi Salojärvi

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Post date 8.6.2020
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WhiKnow´s trans-generational and interdisciplinary team studies polarisation in contemporary societies, identifying a ´whirl of knowledge´ that intertwines media, politics and science. The project engages in theoretical and comparative empirical work, combining big data with qualitative and experimental research and media ethnography. WhiKnow explores how social media hypes brokers or meaning-makers and how these produce identifications, affects and emotions in polarisation. We first generate big data on social media to find out what polarises, where and how in spring 2019 (EP elections, Brexit). Then we conduct ethnographic research in polarized societies in East Central Europe, and in other polarised/ing societies. This is followed by experimental analysis of emotions and theoretically informed study of the intertwined media, politics and academia, and the role of emotions, humour, populism, transnationalism, and anti-intellectualism in these processes.