From Twitter to Capitol Hill

What does the backlash against Critical Race Theory, the Capitol insurrection, Trumpism, Twitter, and neo-Nazis have in common? This book delves deep into conservative social media and far-right extremist platforms to understand the revival and proliferation of far-right authoritarian populist discourses after Trump’s ascent to power. After the January 6th Capitol insurrection and the role social media have played in normalizing and promoting far-right populist authoritarianism, there is a renewed interest to study digital discursive aggression. Inspired by Critical Theory, Panayota Gounari masterfully uses Critical Discourse Studies to analyze social media data and articulate a discursive, pedagogical and historical project.

Panayota Gounari, Ph.D. (2004), Pennslylvania State University, is Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She has published extensively on authoritarian and neoliberal discourses and critical pedagogy. Her most recent book is Liberatory and Critical Education in Greece: Historical Trajectories and Perspectives (co-authored with G. Grollios; Gutenberg, 2016).