Identidade e diferença: um estudo sobre o uso da estética como ferramenta de poder estatal

Abstract

The present study seeks to elucidate alternative forms of power that national states use to create their policies and lines of action. In this sense, I mobilize the aesthetic approach in International Relations, insofar as their approaches propose various analytical elements that challenge the conventional ways of power, especially those that allow us to evaluate the way the state builds and sustains the production of identities. Thereby, I argument that the aesthetic, as a power tool, allows the construction of social representations, that delimits the national character and make an alterity towards the foreign people. From that, Constructivist Theory is also used because it proves itself relevant in highlighting the role of identity and the characteristics, ideas and norms that are socially created, in addition to establishing a relationship between national identity and state interests. Given this, specifically, it is intended to analyze how states use aesthetic power practices to create an alterity on the specific case of refugees, in which they are mostly seen as a national threat. States, starting from representations, create a negative sentiment towards refugees that can serve to underpin their policies of exclusion and differentiation. For this, I use images and discourses that were broadcast in the media that demonstrate the situation of refugees before the alterity created by the governments. I seek to analyze specific images to illustrate how they can be a source of influence on the international political scene.