King's College London

Can you tell me what your doctoral research was about and why you chose that subject?

My research was about populist radical right parties in France, Germany and Italy. I argued that despite their self-identification as anti-elitist, they are instead elitist; and I analysed how they construct elitism in their discourses by instrumentalising gender, sexuality, religion, and immigration status.

The reason why I chose the topic was due to rise in success of populist radical right parties not only in the countries I analysed, but also as a global phenomenon. Something that I always wondered was 'what kind of people do they actually represent' - and my thought was that instead of representing 'the people' or 'the common man', they aim to represent a carefully selected and privileged group that can be considered as elitist.

What were the conclusions of your research were and what they might mean for the future?

The conclusions were that the PRR constructs elitism on four main points: 1) on how they construct crises and present themselves as the only solution; 2) in their use of unbalanced power dynamics that put 'the people' in a position of cultural superiority; 3) in their use of symbolic or material 'possessions' (such as civil rights or citizenship) to determine who belongs and who does; and 4) in how they construct themselves as victims of a perpetrator 'Other'.

In the future, as we are continuing to study the PRR and these parties don't seem to go anywhere, we might reconsider how we approach them, and how we define them. Hopefully, my research presents a more nuanced and comprehensive understanding of how these parties create discourses.

What research methods did you use and what sort of data you were using?

I used qualitative analysis, specifically feminist critical discourse analysis to analyse the discourses - on social media and manifestos - of Rassemblement National, Alternative fur Deutschland, Lega, and Fratelli d'Italia. For the social media posts, I looked at X, TikTok, and Facebook during the electoral period of 2021-2022, which were the most recent elections to the date I started my PhD in October 2021. For the manifestos, instead, I looked at all the presidential and general elections ones - from the moment of their foundation until 2021-2022. I specifically looked at posts/language that talked about gender, sexuality, immigration, religion - and did it all in the original languages of these parties, without using translating tools.

How does it feel to have passed your PhD?

As if a big weight was taken away from me! But also surreal because we are in the middle of the academic term, and going back teaching, the following day, as if nothing happened was a bit strange. But all positive emotions overall.

What are your plans for the future?

Stay in academia, hopefully, so now the job hunt starts. I will get the HEA fellowship, try to publish more papers, and try to have a book proposal from the thesis.

Is there anybody you’d like to thank or acknowledge?

Mainly both my supervisors, Anna Gwiazda and Isabelle Hertner, as they really guided and supported me and advised me throughout the four years of work. I wouldn't have known what direction to take without their questions and inputs, but also I wouldn't have had the confidence of defending the as I did. In general, the friends met during these past years from whom I am still learning a lot - and my partner who is also almost done with his PhD and was very patient during this whole writing and submission process - knowing that his turn will come very soon!