Supervised by Dr. Huon Wardle (Department of Social Anthropology, St Andrews University)
The active development of far-right politics across the globe poses the question of how the enclosed collectives are formed and in what ways charismatic leaders can influence such groups. The formation of magical or mystical thinking and collective representations unites the participants within a social group and provides a basis for easier control and ideology perpetuation. By analysing the dominant narratives and communicative practices within such collectives through the speaking model, this research aims to identify the elements that stimulate prelogical, magical thinking in far-right politics and find out the possible ways for a better understanding of its structures. 

The idea builds on anthropologist Lucien Levy-Bruhl’s theory of ‘collective representations’ and ‘participation mystique’, which explores the mentality of archaic, pre-modern communities based on the perception of the environment as a whole, relatedness, respect to traditions, and fear of the change, attention to emotional aspect and non-living souls. It is possible to argue that the element of archaic thinking exists within a rational, modern way of thinking, characterised by individuation and objectivity. The authoritarian regimes use magical practices as a possible response to the individuation, involving people in mass ideological experience and belief where individual ‘I’ merges with various collective representations. 

By using the ‘speaking model’ of Dell Hymes, I would like to analyse the communicative practices within the collectives governed by far-right authorities and institutions. The model allows to develop the ethnography of communication and explore how the narratives are created and shared based on the context, end goals, and expressive verbal and non-verbal elements. I want to take several examples of the manifestation of authoritarianism across the globe and closely analyse the textual and video materials shared in social media by leaders and participants of such movements. The study will define the ways collective mystical thinking appears and supports far-right ideologies. The data could be comparatively organised and coded using Atlas.Ti software. Furthermore, the method could provide further means to modify Hymes’ model for the specific analysis of mystical thinking within authoritarianism.

With the academic supervision of anthropologist Dr. Huon Wardle, I believe in creating an interesting space for exchange and cooperation, improving my research skills, and broadening individual ideas with his guidance. His expertise in cosmopolitics and the anthropology of magic allow me to explore the wide range of debates around rationality, modernity, and the development of magical thinking within it. There is no traveling planned as a part of the research, expecting to derive most of the ethnographic materials from online sources. 

Having experienced the violent circumstances of authoritarianism, I see the importance of the project as a way to understand deeper influences and motivations behind it. By doing so, I aim to reflect on the possible counter system of autocratic regimes. The outcomes of the research could be gathered in the form of the academic essay as well as the creation of video essays, finding out repetitive and dominant patterns of behaviour of far-right authorities in the creative form of video editing and juxtaposition.