To Örebro University

oru.seÖrebro University Publications
System disruptions
We are currently experiencing disruptions on the search portals due to high traffic. We are working to resolve the issue, you may temporarily encounter an error message.
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Fascism, nature and communication: a Discursive-affective analysis of cuteness in ecofascist propaganda
Örebro University, School of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences. Gender Studies.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-4233-7835
2024 (English)In: Feminist Media Studies, ISSN 1468-0777, E-ISSN 1471-5902Article in journal (Refereed) Epub ahead of print
Abstract [en]

Ecofascism-the union of fascist ideas and ecological notions-is a rising global issue. Ecofascism in the online sphere often encompasses imaginaries of utopia, love and nostalgia in concert with militarism and violence. This article examines cuteness as a strategic tool used to arouse culturally deemed "positive" emotions like joy, love and pleasure. The study draws on findings from an affective-discursive analysis of visual propaganda in the form of ecofascist memes. The analysis shows that cuteness softens fascist ideology and remasculinises and humanises fascism. Cuteness as a rhetorical tool lessens the needs for ideological defence, since cute signifiers condense structures of meaning into binaries of good and evil. Hence, the article argues that cuteness is a powerful affective political communication strategy that serves to reproduce masculine dominance by mobilising gendered and racialised imaginaries of nature, protection, empathy and belonging.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Routledge, 2024.
Keywords [en]
Ecofascism, cuteness, masculinities, nordic, far-right propaganda
National Category
Gender Studies
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-112293DOI: 10.1080/14680777.2024.2313006ISI: 001169343200001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85186453624OAI: oai:DiVA.org:oru-112293DiVA, id: diva2:1844959
Available from: 2024-03-15 Created: 2024-03-15 Last updated: 2025-01-20Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Other links

Publisher's full textScopus

Authority records

Darwish, Maria

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Darwish, Maria
By organisation
School of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences
In the same journal
Feminist Media Studies
Gender Studies

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

doi
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
urn-nbn
Total: 107 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf