Imaginarios neo-colonizadores, Santiago Abascal y discursos (post)imperiales en redes sociales

Abstract

The growing success of far-right political parties like Vox in Spain has attracted multiple studies that try to analyse this phenomenon. This article takes an intersectional approach to analyse the neo-imperial nature of Vox’s discourses and symbology together with the public construction of Santiago Abascal’s hypermasculinity. Thus, employing a decolonial theoretical framework, this study examines the triumph, symbology and construction of hegemonic masculinity in Vox, not only from an identity perspective derived from the patriarchal system but also from the post-imperial condition of contemporary Spain. Through close readings of Abascal’s social media posts, this article examines the instrumentalization of an imperial imaginary for the construction of an anti-Catalan and neo-colonial nationalism. Ultimately, the post-imperial images used by Vox function as affective devices for the construction of masculinity through appealing to the hero and his conquering enterprise that entails a violent ontology of domination of an Other.