Music and Politics: The Use of Music by the Bolsonaro and Milei Presidential Campaigns

This talk will look into how popular music was utilized by Argentina’s president Javier Milei’s and Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro’s presidential campaign and supporters. Using tools from French Discourse Analysis, Dr. Ligia Bezerra will show how popular music remains an instrumental cultural product in terms of its potential to influence society in both Brazil and Argentina, whether it is produced/used by the left or the right.

Dr. Lígia Bezerra is an Associate Professor of Brazilian Studies at Arizona State University, where she also directs the Portuguese program. She holds a PhD in Portuguese, with a minor in Cultural Studies, from Indiana University, an M.A. in Portuguese from the University of New Mexico, and an M.A. in Linguistics from the Universidade Federal do Ceará. Her research interests include consumption, neoliberalism, democracy, and popular music.