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Imperial optics and colonial disability: missions to blind and deaf children in ‘the East’, c. 1880-1939
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Disabling labour: race, disability and Indian indentured labour on Fijian sugar plantations, 1879–1920
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‘A paradise among leprosariums’: Hansen’s disease and affective containment in the Panama Canal Zone
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Local climate change action plans in France: between formal compliance and grassroots appropriation
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Informing strategic climate action: the Climate Social Science Network
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Donate to help us fight back: Political fundraising and toxic rhetoric online
Party Politics, Ahead of Print.
Political candidates utilize social media to mobilize supporters, persuade voters, and raise money. However, little is known about the structure of mass electoral appeals when donors are the primary target instead of voters. Because candidates’ donors and voters can differ significantly, with donors more partisan and ideologically extreme on average, we theorize that candidates use strategic rhetoric tailored to specific audiences. To analyze how campaigns perceive and target their “financial electorate,” we leverage data from the Facebook Ad Library for 2020 U.S. congressional candidates and distinguish political ads by their persuasion targets. Using text analysis, we test the hypotheses that donor-targeting messages are more toxic, negative, and likely to reference a polarizing president than voter-targeting messages. The results support our hypotheses, and Republican candidates, on average, used more toxic language than their Democratic counterparts. As campaigns’ scramble for donations intensifies, these characteristics of fundraising appeals may further polarize the electorate.
Political candidates utilize social media to mobilize supporters, persuade voters, and raise money. However, little is known about the structure of mass electoral appeals when donors are the primary target instead of voters. Because candidates’ donors and voters can differ significantly, with donors more partisan and ideologically extreme on average, we theorize that candidates use strategic rhetoric tailored to specific audiences. To analyze how campaigns perceive and target their “financial electorate,” we leverage data from the Facebook Ad Library for 2020 U.S. congressional candidates and distinguish political ads by their persuasion targets. Using text analysis, we test the hypotheses that donor-targeting messages are more toxic, negative, and likely to reference a polarizing president than voter-targeting messages. The results support our hypotheses, and Republican candidates, on average, used more toxic language than their Democratic counterparts. As campaigns’ scramble for donations intensifies, these characteristics of fundraising appeals may further polarize the electorate.
The radical left and its political communication. An examination of the campaign activities of radical left candidates in sixteen Europe countries
Party Politics, Ahead of Print.
In this paper we focus on the political communication activities of the candidates of the radical left parties (RLPs), emphasizing their campaign activities during electioneering. We aim to address three key questions. First, we seek to understand what type of political communication activities RLP candidates use. Second, we undertake a comparative analysis, contrasting these activities with those employed by candidates and MPs from other party families in order to identify any notable distinctions. Third, we explore the thematic emphasis of their campaign activities and whether it aligns with the commonly held perception of RLPs as less individualistic, particularly in light of the prevailing trend towards increased personalization in politics. Our data come from the Comparative Candidates Survey (CCS) and cover 16 European countries over the years spanning from 2005 to 2017. In sum, the findings present a nuanced perspective and do not conclusively demonstrate a distinctly unique type of candidate of the radical left.
In this paper we focus on the political communication activities of the candidates of the radical left parties (RLPs), emphasizing their campaign activities during electioneering. We aim to address three key questions. First, we seek to understand what type of political communication activities RLP candidates use. Second, we undertake a comparative analysis, contrasting these activities with those employed by candidates and MPs from other party families in order to identify any notable distinctions. Third, we explore the thematic emphasis of their campaign activities and whether it aligns with the commonly held perception of RLPs as less individualistic, particularly in light of the prevailing trend towards increased personalization in politics. Our data come from the Comparative Candidates Survey (CCS) and cover 16 European countries over the years spanning from 2005 to 2017. In sum, the findings present a nuanced perspective and do not conclusively demonstrate a distinctly unique type of candidate of the radical left.
Religiosity, Space-making, Exclusion: ‘Kanwar Yatra’ Celebrations in a North Indian City
Studies in Indian Politics, Ahead of Print.
Through an ethnographic study of Kanwar Yatra celebrations in a north Indian city, this article seeks to highlight the changing notions of public religiosity and mass celebrations in contemporary India. This article will first show how the festival of Kanwar Yatra is invested with diverse forms of religious performance and carnivalesque celebrations. In itself, these celebrations especially provide young people with avenues for fun and entertainment that combine ideas of lower middle-class consumerism with religious fervour in a public space. However, the evolving spaces that are built, even in the momentary conclusion of such a festival, are based on wider strategies of belonging and identity, often complicated further with the involvement of the state. Influenced by the projects of socio-cultural actors and political institutions, this article ultimately argues that Kanwar Yatra celebrations reproduce ideas of spatial domination, exclusion and surveillance of communities, with severe implications for minorities, especially Muslims.
Through an ethnographic study of Kanwar Yatra celebrations in a north Indian city, this article seeks to highlight the changing notions of public religiosity and mass celebrations in contemporary India. This article will first show how the festival of Kanwar Yatra is invested with diverse forms of religious performance and carnivalesque celebrations. In itself, these celebrations especially provide young people with avenues for fun and entertainment that combine ideas of lower middle-class consumerism with religious fervour in a public space. However, the evolving spaces that are built, even in the momentary conclusion of such a festival, are based on wider strategies of belonging and identity, often complicated further with the involvement of the state. Influenced by the projects of socio-cultural actors and political institutions, this article ultimately argues that Kanwar Yatra celebrations reproduce ideas of spatial domination, exclusion and surveillance of communities, with severe implications for minorities, especially Muslims.
Book review: Lisa Mitchell, Hailing the State: Indian Democracy Between Elections
Studies in Indian Politics, Ahead of Print.
Lisa Mitchell, Hailing the State: Indian Democracy Between Elections. Ranikhet: Permanent Black and Ashoka University, 2023. 320 pp. ₹695.
Lisa Mitchell, Hailing the State: Indian Democracy Between Elections. Ranikhet: Permanent Black and Ashoka University, 2023. 320 pp. ₹695.