Populism and Sports in Latin America: a populism without confidence in the people

ALABARCES, PABLO

Chicago

Workshop; NASSH 2022 Pre-Conference Workshop ?Sport in a Populist Age: Physical Culture, Sportive Politics, and the Right-Wing?; 2022

North American Society for Sports History

Populism does not describe in Latin America recent nor emergent phenomena, but it is a characterisation of several of deep and key processes in its political history: the Argentine, Brazilian and Mexican experiences of Peronism, Varguism and Priism, respectively, from the 1920?s until today, for example (just for naming three political experiences in the most important countries of the continent). All the histories of both sport and politics agree in the importance of sport for the actually existing Latin American populisms ?with another key actor: the modern media systems, from popular press to television. This work presents an account, an analysis, and a balance of that history, paying special attention to the fluctuations between the populisms of the Left ?the Pink Tide of Latin America between 2000 and 2015? and the Right ?the conservative restorations of recent years: a conservatism which names populism as the Other, but that organises its relationship with sport in a classical populist mood. Can we say that populism is just a discourse? Or perhaps a style? Or how could we explain the paradox of an anti-populist populism?