Understanding Rising Authoritarianism: Affects, Emotions and Resonance in the Neoliberal Politics of the Body

Our bodies and our body images are increasingly coming under the influence of neoliberal policies of improvement, the dissolution of intimacy and privacy and competitive comparison. In concrete terms, these policies act by means of a radical individualisation and shifting of social ideas and measures onto the individual, the constant drive for (self-)optimisation and the reshaping of our body images and perceptions in the most economically exploitable way possible. As a result, for some years now we have been experiencing a ubiquitous, often politically motivated affection of bodies and, at the same time, a strong longing and search for echo or resonance. Authoritarian regimes and their leaders serve these needs in a populist way. Their promise of more recognition, more political weight and power in the public debate is essentially based on an instrumentalization of affects, emotions, and resonance.

The contributions should address questions such as:

• To what extent do affects and emotions play a central role in a progressive neoliberal shaping of our bodies?
• How do political-authoritarian forces succeed in creating or abusing resonance in order to forcefully place their concerns?
• What forms of resistance are emerging on an individual, institutional and societal level to contain a neoliberal over-shaping of the body and the body images that go with it?
• How can abuse on the part of authoritarian regimes be analysed and prevented with a view to the instrumental-strategic use of affects, emotions, and resonance?