The Center for Middle Eastern and North African Politics and the Project C01 of the CRC "Affective Societies" organize an international Workshop on “Affective Authoritarianisms” Affect, Emotions and Authoritarian Governance in Global Perspectives.

Authoritarian and populist leaders have been rising on a global scale for some years now. While Egypt and Turkey slid into dictatorship after considerable public mobilization and revolutionary protests, seemingly consolidated democratic regimes also experienced substantial political shifts. However, affect and emotions are either ignored completely or are treated as “bad affects,” exemplified by artfully manipulative populist leaders immersed in mindlessly cheering crowds. In this workshop we want to zoom in on the workings of affect and emotions in authoritarian settings in order to understand better how they create and sustain such systems of rule.

On the 9th of April, we will join forces with IRGAC, a global scholar-activist network focusing on authoritarian governance and anti-authoritarian resistance. In the workshop “Resisting Authoritarianism – Emotion & Aesthetics in Antiauthoritarian Strategies”, artists, academics and activists will present their work and together we explore the role of emotions, aesthetics and the sensory in antiauthoritarian strategies. This event is held in cooperation with the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung.