Graduation Year
2016
Document Type
Thesis
Degree
M.A.
Degree Name
Master of Arts (M.A.)
Degree Granting Department
Government and International Affairs
Major Professor
Donileen Loseke, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Rachel May, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Robert Benford, Ph.D.
Keywords
narrative, dramaturgy, politics, emotion, television, identity
Abstract
In this paper, I build on the assumption that collective emotional experience plays an important role in sustaining the group identity central to nation-making processes inspired by charismatic leaders. This analysis is based on a case study of the Venezuelan government after the death of Hugo Chávez. I examine ways in which elements of the leader’s narrative are used by his successors after his death. I also argue that the current political actors of the bureaucratized Revolutionary Government of Venezuela are attempting to sustain popular support by reaffirming a national identity that resonated among the masses largely due to the charisma of a now absent leader. I wish to explore the probability or lack thereof of a sustained emotional connection of the government regime with the mass audience.
Scholar Commons Citation
Blackwell, Rebecca, "Venezuela, from Charisma to Mimicry: The Rise and Fall of a Televised Political Drama" (2016). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/6181
