Fractal identity and representation in bolsonarism: The king’s digital body, conservantism-neoliberalism bivalence, and fractal personhood

Abstract

This article approaches a fundamental reorganization of Brazil’s political and identitary field, which had been gradually advanced through social media before erupting in the public sphere with the election of Jair Bolsonaro in October 2018. Based on a cybernetic perspective inspired by Gregory Bateson, it delves into some of the emerging dilemmas that the digitalization of politics puts to the double problem of identity and representation in anthropology, from three angles: populist representation and the “king’s digital body”; recognition-redistribution bivalence; and fractal identity-building through digital media.