Anthropology of Authoritarianism - Part 2: Maintaining and Resisting Authoritarianism

In order for authoritarian regimes to gain and maintain power, they must have some level of popular support. In this video we take a deeper dive into the strategies of authoritarian power grabs, such as surveillance, propaganda, and regressive gender policing and teach you how to recognize a “backsliding democracy” that’s no longer truly democratic. We also outline the ways everyday citizens can resist and protest, and address how the methods of cultural anthropology and forensic anthropology can play an important role in prosecuting war crimes and taking steps towards truth and reconciliation.

Watch the full episode:

Resources:

Adorno, T. (2019) The Authoritarian Personality. Brooklyn: Verso.

Arendt, H. (2017) The Origins of Totalitarianism. London: Penguin Classics.

Gonçalves, J.F. and Lasco, G. (2023) Anthropology, Democracy, and Authoritarianism: reflections from Brazil and the Philippines. Current Anthropology 64(1).

Price, D. (2016) Weaponizing Anthropology. CounterPunch.

Rhodes, B. (2022) After the Fall: The Rise of Authoritarianism in the World We’ve Made. New York: Random House.

Snyder, T. (2017) On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. New York: Crown.