Authors

Ruta Skriptaite¹;  ¹ The University of Nottingham, UK

Discussion

The research explores the ways hegemonic masculinity is reflected in political image-making in post-Soviet spaces, by providing a comparative analysis of Belarusian president Aliaksandr Lukashenka -'Batka’, former Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev - ‘Papa’, and now deceased Turkmen president Saparmurat Niyazov -‘Turkmenbashi’ - arguably some of the most patriarchal leaders of the 21st century. Their ‘fathering effort’- patriarchal masculinity-based style and methods of political image-making, although archaic and outdated, still have a remarkable impact and result in the hindrance of achieving equality in the societies the three patriarchs reigned(ed) over for decades. Thus, the presentation shall focus on the following three questions: 1) In what ways the three leaders have projected their political images as fathers of their nations? What are the core differences and similarities between their images? 2) In what ways, if at all, they had an impact on preserving patriarchal values in their societies? 3) Has there been a reciprocal relationship between the patriarchal image-making practices and the societal values of the three case-study countries?

This presentation will be based on my doctoral thesis. My methodology includes semi-structured expert interviews, relevant survey data, and semiotic analysis of political images.