“One of us” – Discursive Constructions, Media of Participation and Linguistic Practices of Mayoral Communication in the Crisis of Political Representation (C04)

• Subject Area: General and Comparative Linguistics, Experimental Linguistics, Typology, Non-European Languages
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 438577023

The project investigates whether and how the communication of mayors today is challenged by “populist” rage, quantifying public evaluation regimes and the demand for increased participation and to what extent their institutional use of language reacts to or resists such developments. Empirically, public images as well as communicative practices of mayors in four municipalities (Siegen, Dresden, Ladenburg, Viernheim) will be examined with the help of computer-assisted media discourse and image analysis, multimodal text communication and interaction research.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1472: Transformations of the Popular
• Applicant Institution: Universität Siegen
• Project Heads: Professor Dr. Stephan Habscheid; Professor Dr. Friedemann Vogel