Kirill Filimonov | Uppsala University (original) (raw)
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Papers by Kirill Filimonov
Journal of Language and Politics, 2022
This article examines the discursive construction of nature as represented by the Swedish TV docu... more This article examines the discursive construction of nature as represented by the Swedish TV documentary Tvångsförflyttningar – Bággojohtin , which narrates the history of forced displacements of the indigenous people of Sami in northern Sweden in the early 20th century. Our discursive-material analysis highlights the role of nature in these displacements, and how, in these tragic historical developments, nature was regulated by the antagonistically positioned discursive frameworks of the state and the Sami, both of which, in very different ways, sought to integrate it into their respective systems of meaning. By bringing attention to the interconnection of the discursive and the material, we argue that nature, through a series of subversive acts, resisted both the environmental governmentality of the state and the counter-hegemonic environmental knowledge of the Sami. Thus, the article contributes to the understanding of the multiple discursive struggles around flora and fauna, but also nature’s own agency and voice.
Nordicom Review, 2022
In this article, we analyse mediated representations of elite and non-elite voices about climate ... more In this article, we analyse mediated representations of elite and non-elite voices about climate change, by juxtaposing two Swedish non-fiction television series: one narrates the work of environmental scientists, the other discusses climate change with diverse citizens in a vox pop format. We argue that the discursive practices of these programmes reproduce the antagonistic subject positions of experts and ordinary people, allocating them radically different positions of power in relation to climate change. Whereas the experts are presented as actors of change with the knowledge to solve the crisis, ordinary people are shown as passive recipients of advice and moral judgment, in need of change. In addition, we highlight the role of media professionals in these articulations. The article shows how these subject positions support persuasionist strategies, but also how the elite/non-elite juxtaposition tends to exclude the latter from a meaningful engagement on equal terms.
Critical Discourse Studies , 2023
The article brings Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory into the empirical context of contemporar... more The article brings Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory into the empirical context of contemporary Russia to analyse the complex relationships between the state and alternative media. In contrast to the mainstream narrative that paints the picture of a strong authoritarian state with a grip over democratic liberties and civil society, we suggest a more nuanced perspective on the subject that focuses on the struggle over the articulation of the identity of the state. Through an ethnography (combined with interviews and textual analysis) of three Russian alternative media outlets – Avtonom, Discours and DOXA – this article demonstrates how they critique the hegemonic state discourse, how they evade it through their practices, and how they perform counter- hegemonic alternatives. Even if their resistance is severely countered by the state, their practices are seen to de-naturalise the nodal points of centrality and unity which constitute the hegemonic state discourse. As these practices contain alternative articulations of the state discourse, the importance of alternative media for rethinking the state (and resisting it) should not be underestimated.
In this article we study campaign material of the Swedish party Feminist Initiative (FI) during t... more In this article we study campaign material of the Swedish party Feminist Initiative (FI) during the 2014 parliamentary election campaign in Sweden. Approaching the topic from discourse-theoretical and intersectional perspectives, we ask how the inclusion of various
social groups into the hegemonic project of feminist politics becomes possible, what was constructed as an antagonist to feminist politics, and in what ways it impeded FI to realise such politics. Our findings show that intersectionality allowed FI to include every group/
individual into its feminist political project as long as they experienced oppression. Even though racists and nationalists in general (the Sweden Democrats in particular) were singled out as antagonists, it was mainly norms and structures that were addressed in the online material as standing in the way for FI to fulfil both their identity and hegemonic project.
This article explores Swedish parties’ activities on Instagram during the 2014 elections. Underst... more This article explores Swedish parties’ activities on Instagram during the 2014 elections. Understanding party campaign communication as highly strategic, that is, communication to persuade and mobilize voters in order to win the elections, we ask whether Instagram was used to (1) broadcast campaign messages, (2) mobilize supporters, (3) manage the party’s image, and (4) amplify and complement other campaign material (i.e., hybrid campaign use). With this study, we follow previous studies on the use of digital communication platforms in the hands of campaigning political actors, but we direct our attention to a new platform. We conducted a content analysis of 220 party postings on Instagram, collected during the hot phase of the campaign. The result shows that the platform was mainly used for broadcasting rather than for mobilization. The image the parties were presenting leaned toward personalization with a strong presence of top candidates in their postings. Top candidates were primarily displayed in a political/professional context. Finally, half of the analyzed postings showed signs of hybridized campaign practices. The presented findings give a first glimpse on how political parties use and perform on Instagram.
Целью статьи является исследование основных фреймов, реконструируемых двумя ведущими американским... more Целью статьи является исследование основных фреймов, реконструируемых двумя ведущими американскими демократическим и республиканским лидерами во время президентской кампании 2012 г., взаимосвязи между языковыми и ментальными структурами в современном американском политическом дискурсе. Анализ корпуса монологических и диалогических высказываний Б. Обамы и М. Ромни с применением когнитивной теории метафоры позволяет выявить базовые концепты американской нации, к которым апеллируют ведущие современные политики. Корпус текстов, входящих в предвыборный дискурс 2012 г., демонстрирует, что высказанная выдающимся лингвистом и политическим консультантом Дж. Лакоффом в 2004 г. идея противопоставления респуб ликанской модели ГОСУДАРСТВО ЕСТЬ СТРОГИЙ ОТЕЦ демократической модели ГОСУДАРСТВО ЕСТЬ ЗАБОТЛИВЫЙ РОДИТЕЛЬ оказывается полностью реализованной в риторике Б. Обамы.
This study explores the hegemonic articulation of ‘feminist politics’ by the Swedish political pa... more This study explores the hegemonic articulation of ‘feminist politics’ by the Swedish political party Feminist Initiative (Feministiskt initiativ) during the 2014 national parliamentary election campaign. The analysis is carried out on two levels: the construction of the hegemonic project of feminist politics and the construction of an antagonist.
Deploying the discourse-theoretical approach by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe as well as the theories of radical democracy and intersectionality, it is shown how a new, broad collective feminist identity is produced by deconstructing womanhood as an identifiable and unproblematic category as well as expanding the signifying chain of feminism by including new social struggles into it. As a result, the feminist subject is conceptualized in radical-democratic terms as a citizen with equal rights, rather than an essentialized female subject. Two nodal points that fix the meaning of the hegemonic project of feminist politics are identified: one is human rights, which enables the expansion of the chain of equivalence, and the other is experience of oppression, which acknowledges differences existing within the movement and prevents it from muting marginalized voices. Discrimination, being the constitutive outside, both threatens and produces the subject: on the one hand, it violates human rights that underlie feminist politics; on the other hand, it produces the experience of oppression that gives a unique feminist perspective to each member of the collective identity. The hegemonic project thus emerges as dependent on the oppressive power of discrimination.
The study suggests a critical discussion on how the constitutive outside – discrimination – empties the concept of feminism by a radical expansion of its meaning. The research furthermore explores the construction of the antagonist of the hegemonic project. Utilizing analytical concepts from the writings of Jacques Lacan and Slavoj Žižek, it is demonstrated how social structures and norms acquire agency and become the significant Other for the feminist identity. The thesis is concluded by a critical discussion on the fundamental impossibility of identification based on opposing oneself to something that can only be expressed with a signifier that ultimately lacks any signified.
Books by Kirill Filimonov
Doctoral thesis, 2021
This doctoral dissertation analyzes participation in alternative media, taking the reader to the ... more This doctoral dissertation analyzes participation in alternative media, taking the reader to the Russia of the late 2010s. Bringing together discourse theory, media and communication studies and political theory, it approaches participation in media production through the lens of performativity. The conceptualization of participation as a performance helps explore the material, embodied and spatial enactments of discourses that sustain the fragile and unstable process of production.
The data of this study comprise several months of participant observations, interviews with media producers, and textual analysis of media content. The research employs a case-study method and focuses on media that explicitly delegate their participants the right to co-decide on matters of content production and internal organizing process. The three cases under study are Russia’s oldest anarchist medium Avtonom, the student medium DOXA, and the web-based zine Discours. Data analysis integrates qualitative content analysis and a discourse-theoretical approach, informed by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe’s discourse theory alongside its subsequent developments within the Essex School.
The study looks into the distribution of power in alternative media amidst an internal diversity, material constraints, and an antagonistic relationship with the state. The analysis constructs a model of participation, which shows its embeddedness into multiple and partially overlapping communities. A vibrant sociality and the potential for a further expansion of the media communities emerge as two of the key conditions of the participatory process. Furthermore, participation is supported by an ongoing performance of a multiplicity of identities, in which the more elitist articulations of journalism are intertwined with some empowering and counter-hegemonic notions of media production, media producers, and the audience.
Retaining a critical-explanatory focus, the dissertation explores the limits of power-sharing, such as the persistence of journalistic professionalism, the scarce resources of the media and vulnerability inflicted by the state. The static representation of the state as the major confronting force reveals the paradoxical nature of social antagonism: while mobilizing the limited resources, it also reduces participatory intensities and triggers a politics of trust that restricts access to media production.
This dissertation offers a number of theoretical and empirical contributions to several fields. Some of its key insights relate to participation beyond institutional politics, the hybridity of mainstream and alternative media, the interconnection of discourse, materiality and affect, and an empirical applicability of discourse theory.
Journal of Language and Politics, 2022
This article examines the discursive construction of nature as represented by the Swedish TV docu... more This article examines the discursive construction of nature as represented by the Swedish TV documentary Tvångsförflyttningar – Bággojohtin , which narrates the history of forced displacements of the indigenous people of Sami in northern Sweden in the early 20th century. Our discursive-material analysis highlights the role of nature in these displacements, and how, in these tragic historical developments, nature was regulated by the antagonistically positioned discursive frameworks of the state and the Sami, both of which, in very different ways, sought to integrate it into their respective systems of meaning. By bringing attention to the interconnection of the discursive and the material, we argue that nature, through a series of subversive acts, resisted both the environmental governmentality of the state and the counter-hegemonic environmental knowledge of the Sami. Thus, the article contributes to the understanding of the multiple discursive struggles around flora and fauna, but also nature’s own agency and voice.
Nordicom Review, 2022
In this article, we analyse mediated representations of elite and non-elite voices about climate ... more In this article, we analyse mediated representations of elite and non-elite voices about climate change, by juxtaposing two Swedish non-fiction television series: one narrates the work of environmental scientists, the other discusses climate change with diverse citizens in a vox pop format. We argue that the discursive practices of these programmes reproduce the antagonistic subject positions of experts and ordinary people, allocating them radically different positions of power in relation to climate change. Whereas the experts are presented as actors of change with the knowledge to solve the crisis, ordinary people are shown as passive recipients of advice and moral judgment, in need of change. In addition, we highlight the role of media professionals in these articulations. The article shows how these subject positions support persuasionist strategies, but also how the elite/non-elite juxtaposition tends to exclude the latter from a meaningful engagement on equal terms.
Critical Discourse Studies , 2023
The article brings Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory into the empirical context of contemporar... more The article brings Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory into the empirical context of contemporary Russia to analyse the complex relationships between the state and alternative media. In contrast to the mainstream narrative that paints the picture of a strong authoritarian state with a grip over democratic liberties and civil society, we suggest a more nuanced perspective on the subject that focuses on the struggle over the articulation of the identity of the state. Through an ethnography (combined with interviews and textual analysis) of three Russian alternative media outlets – Avtonom, Discours and DOXA – this article demonstrates how they critique the hegemonic state discourse, how they evade it through their practices, and how they perform counter- hegemonic alternatives. Even if their resistance is severely countered by the state, their practices are seen to de-naturalise the nodal points of centrality and unity which constitute the hegemonic state discourse. As these practices contain alternative articulations of the state discourse, the importance of alternative media for rethinking the state (and resisting it) should not be underestimated.
In this article we study campaign material of the Swedish party Feminist Initiative (FI) during t... more In this article we study campaign material of the Swedish party Feminist Initiative (FI) during the 2014 parliamentary election campaign in Sweden. Approaching the topic from discourse-theoretical and intersectional perspectives, we ask how the inclusion of various
social groups into the hegemonic project of feminist politics becomes possible, what was constructed as an antagonist to feminist politics, and in what ways it impeded FI to realise such politics. Our findings show that intersectionality allowed FI to include every group/
individual into its feminist political project as long as they experienced oppression. Even though racists and nationalists in general (the Sweden Democrats in particular) were singled out as antagonists, it was mainly norms and structures that were addressed in the online material as standing in the way for FI to fulfil both their identity and hegemonic project.
This article explores Swedish parties’ activities on Instagram during the 2014 elections. Underst... more This article explores Swedish parties’ activities on Instagram during the 2014 elections. Understanding party campaign communication as highly strategic, that is, communication to persuade and mobilize voters in order to win the elections, we ask whether Instagram was used to (1) broadcast campaign messages, (2) mobilize supporters, (3) manage the party’s image, and (4) amplify and complement other campaign material (i.e., hybrid campaign use). With this study, we follow previous studies on the use of digital communication platforms in the hands of campaigning political actors, but we direct our attention to a new platform. We conducted a content analysis of 220 party postings on Instagram, collected during the hot phase of the campaign. The result shows that the platform was mainly used for broadcasting rather than for mobilization. The image the parties were presenting leaned toward personalization with a strong presence of top candidates in their postings. Top candidates were primarily displayed in a political/professional context. Finally, half of the analyzed postings showed signs of hybridized campaign practices. The presented findings give a first glimpse on how political parties use and perform on Instagram.
Целью статьи является исследование основных фреймов, реконструируемых двумя ведущими американским... more Целью статьи является исследование основных фреймов, реконструируемых двумя ведущими американскими демократическим и республиканским лидерами во время президентской кампании 2012 г., взаимосвязи между языковыми и ментальными структурами в современном американском политическом дискурсе. Анализ корпуса монологических и диалогических высказываний Б. Обамы и М. Ромни с применением когнитивной теории метафоры позволяет выявить базовые концепты американской нации, к которым апеллируют ведущие современные политики. Корпус текстов, входящих в предвыборный дискурс 2012 г., демонстрирует, что высказанная выдающимся лингвистом и политическим консультантом Дж. Лакоффом в 2004 г. идея противопоставления респуб ликанской модели ГОСУДАРСТВО ЕСТЬ СТРОГИЙ ОТЕЦ демократической модели ГОСУДАРСТВО ЕСТЬ ЗАБОТЛИВЫЙ РОДИТЕЛЬ оказывается полностью реализованной в риторике Б. Обамы.
This study explores the hegemonic articulation of ‘feminist politics’ by the Swedish political pa... more This study explores the hegemonic articulation of ‘feminist politics’ by the Swedish political party Feminist Initiative (Feministiskt initiativ) during the 2014 national parliamentary election campaign. The analysis is carried out on two levels: the construction of the hegemonic project of feminist politics and the construction of an antagonist.
Deploying the discourse-theoretical approach by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe as well as the theories of radical democracy and intersectionality, it is shown how a new, broad collective feminist identity is produced by deconstructing womanhood as an identifiable and unproblematic category as well as expanding the signifying chain of feminism by including new social struggles into it. As a result, the feminist subject is conceptualized in radical-democratic terms as a citizen with equal rights, rather than an essentialized female subject. Two nodal points that fix the meaning of the hegemonic project of feminist politics are identified: one is human rights, which enables the expansion of the chain of equivalence, and the other is experience of oppression, which acknowledges differences existing within the movement and prevents it from muting marginalized voices. Discrimination, being the constitutive outside, both threatens and produces the subject: on the one hand, it violates human rights that underlie feminist politics; on the other hand, it produces the experience of oppression that gives a unique feminist perspective to each member of the collective identity. The hegemonic project thus emerges as dependent on the oppressive power of discrimination.
The study suggests a critical discussion on how the constitutive outside – discrimination – empties the concept of feminism by a radical expansion of its meaning. The research furthermore explores the construction of the antagonist of the hegemonic project. Utilizing analytical concepts from the writings of Jacques Lacan and Slavoj Žižek, it is demonstrated how social structures and norms acquire agency and become the significant Other for the feminist identity. The thesis is concluded by a critical discussion on the fundamental impossibility of identification based on opposing oneself to something that can only be expressed with a signifier that ultimately lacks any signified.
Doctoral thesis, 2021
This doctoral dissertation analyzes participation in alternative media, taking the reader to the ... more This doctoral dissertation analyzes participation in alternative media, taking the reader to the Russia of the late 2010s. Bringing together discourse theory, media and communication studies and political theory, it approaches participation in media production through the lens of performativity. The conceptualization of participation as a performance helps explore the material, embodied and spatial enactments of discourses that sustain the fragile and unstable process of production.
The data of this study comprise several months of participant observations, interviews with media producers, and textual analysis of media content. The research employs a case-study method and focuses on media that explicitly delegate their participants the right to co-decide on matters of content production and internal organizing process. The three cases under study are Russia’s oldest anarchist medium Avtonom, the student medium DOXA, and the web-based zine Discours. Data analysis integrates qualitative content analysis and a discourse-theoretical approach, informed by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe’s discourse theory alongside its subsequent developments within the Essex School.
The study looks into the distribution of power in alternative media amidst an internal diversity, material constraints, and an antagonistic relationship with the state. The analysis constructs a model of participation, which shows its embeddedness into multiple and partially overlapping communities. A vibrant sociality and the potential for a further expansion of the media communities emerge as two of the key conditions of the participatory process. Furthermore, participation is supported by an ongoing performance of a multiplicity of identities, in which the more elitist articulations of journalism are intertwined with some empowering and counter-hegemonic notions of media production, media producers, and the audience.
Retaining a critical-explanatory focus, the dissertation explores the limits of power-sharing, such as the persistence of journalistic professionalism, the scarce resources of the media and vulnerability inflicted by the state. The static representation of the state as the major confronting force reveals the paradoxical nature of social antagonism: while mobilizing the limited resources, it also reduces participatory intensities and triggers a politics of trust that restricts access to media production.
This dissertation offers a number of theoretical and empirical contributions to several fields. Some of its key insights relate to participation beyond institutional politics, the hybridity of mainstream and alternative media, the interconnection of discourse, materiality and affect, and an empirical applicability of discourse theory.