This subproject explored the intersections of populism and conspiracy theories in Brazil. Drawing on extensive field research with Bolsonaro supporters in the aftermath of the 2022 presidential elections, it examined the intricacies of far-right conspiracy theories surrounding the election results. Combining ethnography and anthropological theory with insights from history, political theory, and sociology, this project analysed the radical transformation of Brazil’s contemporary political landscape. Its analysis was both deeply attentive to the uniqueness of the Brazilian case and considered its broader regional and international context, producing a meticulous and comparative examination of the individual and collective shifts that transform politics and society.
Setting the 2018 and 2022 presidential elections against the background of previous articulations of conspiracy rhetoric and manifestations of populism, special attention was given to new forms and strategies of political communication in a ‘post-truth’ era. Some key questions that guided this research were: Has the Bolsonaro government disrupted or eroded from within the democratic processes in the country, as many analysts have suggested, and, if so, how? In what ways did Bolsonaro’s populist project evolve throughout his time in office, and how did conspiracy theories shift in relation to such changes? Does Brazil’s authoritarian history, and Jair Bolsonaro’s own military identity, shape the latter’s populist rhetoric and political project? How did ideological approaches to the establishment of what is, and has been, ‘true’ and ‘false’ inform the government’s actions in relation to a national project?
This project has yielded several publications, including the first monograph to examine conspiracy theories in Brazil from an ethnographic perspective:
Hatzikidi, Katerina. Conservatism and Conspiracism: A Time of Awakening. Routledge, New York, forthcoming summer 2026.

Related PACT Publications
Hatzikidi, Katerina, and Andreza Aruska De Souza Santos. The Faces of Authoritarianism and Strategies of Dissent in Contemporary Brazil. UCL Press, 2025. Open access to this publication ↗
Bastos Lima, M. G., Hatzikidi, K., & da Costa, K. (2025). “Gore Capitalism and Necropolitics in Brazil’s Malgovernance of the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Latin American Perspectives, January 2025. Open access…
Hatzikidi, Katerina. “The Ambiguous Other. Engaging with Far Right and Other Uncomfortable Subjectivities.” Vibrant, v.21/e211010, Brasilia, 2024, https://doi.org/10.1590/1809-43412024v21e211010. Open access to this publication ↗
Butter, Michael. “Populism and Conspiracy Theory.” Australian Outlook, Australian Institute of International Affairs, 27 August 2024. Open access to this publication ↗
Butter, M., Hatzikidi, K., Jeitler, C., Loperfido, G., & Turza, L. (Eds.). (2024). Populism and Conspiracy Theory: Case Studies and Theoretical Perspectives (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003474272 Open access to…
Dullo, E., K. Hatzikidi, and L. Cesarino. (eds.) 2023. “Por uma antropologia da democracia -e de seus desafios”. Special Issue: Antropologia e Democracia. Horizontes Antropológicos 29 (65): 1-31. https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9983e650201 Open access to this…
Hatzikidi, Katerina. “‘The Communavirus Is Here.’” Covid Conspiracy Theories in Global Perspective, edited by Michael Butter and Peter Knight, Routledge, New York, NY, 2023, pp. 366–377. Open access to…
Butter, Michael, and Peter Knight. “Covid-19 Conspiracy Theories in Global Perspective.” Covid Conspiracy Theories in Global Perspective, edited by Michael Butter and Peter Knight, 1st ed., Routledge, New York,…
Discussing some of the conspiracy rumors and theories that circulated during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil, this essay explores the fear of communism as a recurrent conspiracist trope in…
Hatzikidi, Katerina. “Pierre Ostiguy, Francisco Panizza and Benjamin Moffitt (Eds.), Populism in Global Perspective: A Performative and Discursive Approach (Abingdon: Routledge, 2021)” Journal of Latin American Studies, vol. 54,…
Hatzikidi, Katerina. “Review: Sá Motta, Rodrigo Patto. On guard against the red menace: Anti-communism in Brazil, 1917-1964”, ‘Journal for Bazilian Studies, vol. 10, no. 2, 2021, pp. 442–444. Open…
Hatzikidi, Katerina. “Populism’s Ambiguity: Reflecting on Bolsonarism.” Brazilian Research and Studies Blog, vol. 3, no. 1, Feb. 2022, https://bras-center.com/populisms-ambiguity-reflecting-on-bolsonarism/. Accessed 9 Nov. 2022. Open access to this publication ↗