Det abjekta i Almedalen : Fasa, äckel, avsky, och ångest i politiska tal

Sammanfattning: This paper deconstructs twelve contemporary political speeches from leaders of the Swedish parliament, using Julia Kristeva’s interpretation of the abject. Focusing mainly on Annie Lööf (C) and Jimmie Åkesson (SD), it examines speeches made at Almedalsveckan, spanning the years 2014–2019. In addition to these speakers, but to a lesser extent, it references Ebba Busch Thor (KD) and Jonas Sjöstedt (V) from the same time period and event. Rather than looking at these narratives from a rhetoric point-of-view, this paper analyses the reader’s/listener’s affective relationship to the text. Are the speakers attempting to arouse feelings of horror, disgust, repulsion, or anxiety in their audience with their choices of words and images? When, how… and why? To answer these questions some sociological and political theories are utilised alongside Kristeva’s, namely those of Randall Collins and Murray Edelman. In applying Collins explanation for how group solidarity is generated – by extension, how group identity is created – this paper suggests that abjection serves a vital role in these speeches as part of the political strategy to gain and maintain support. Through separation and exclusion, delineating what the speaker and their sympathisers are and are not, as well as designating enemies on whom they can project their fears and frustrations, the speaker effectively forges group cohesion. This process can provide members of said group (i.e. readers and listeners) with a release of tension, or feelings of reassurance or excitement. The result of these political narratives, whether intended or not, is an imagined, idealised Swedish subject, who affirms the “necessity” of the political leader that imagines them.