Austral Comunicación is the academic journal of Universidad Austral’s School of Communication (Buenos Aires, Argentina). The journal aims to collect and disseminate applied research and basic theory of different traditions, trends and lines in communication sciences.
Facultad de Comunicación - Universidad Austral
The authors retain the copyright and guarantee the journal the right to be the first publication of the work. In case that a translation of the article already published in Austral Comunicación can be published in another journal, it is requested to record the original publication in the translated version. The license used is CC BY-NC-SA, which allows sharing (copying and redistributing the material in any medium and format) and adapting (remixing, transforming and building on the material) under the following terms: attribution (acknowledge authorship) and non-commercial (the material cannot be used for commercial purposes). Update: February 1, 2022. Austral Comunicación allows the author (s) to retain the publication rights without restrictions.
The critical possibilities of montage in post-dictatorial and platformized culture
This article formulates epistemological, conjunctural and theoretical-methodological questions arising from a concrete research practice, and is structured in three sections that take up these questions. The first offers a conceptualization of the imaginary situated in its specific materiality and in its links with the ideological, based on contributions from philosophy and psychoanalysis. It proposes a work with images that takes them as a privileged material for the capture of affective elements in which the subjective and the social are intertwined. The second section offers a diagnosis of the transformations in the imaginary relationship of subjects with their material conditions of existence, read from the platforming and post-dictatorial turn of culture. In particular, the implications of a historical transformation of the massive forms of perception, starting from the practice of scrolling, are studied. Finally, the third section develops the conjecture that we are witnessing a dispute in the forms of montage, between what we call algorithmic montage and critical montage, understood as a practice of knowledge production. Throughout the article, suggestions are made for a concrete approach to the imaginary and for the realization of critical assemblages based on the question of how to produce images that dislocate the presentist temporality of the permanent and confirmatory flow of the scrolling. It is concluded that from the social sciences it is possible to carry out a critical montage that destabilizes the dominant forms of looking and of what we are given to see. It is a question of investigating in the plane of combinatorics, selections and relations between elements that foreshadow new forms of imagination of the social.
Copyright (c) 2025 Mariano Caputo, Silvia Hernández https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Many campaigns and digital media use the consumer's personal data without their prior consent. In this research, a new advertising communication model that represents a paradigm shift is analyzed and evaluated. In the new model, each individual consumer will publish -anonymously- the characteristics of the product they want, and companies in the sector will respond with hyper personalized ads. Advertisers will transparently compete, in two successive rounds, so that the consumer will make an informed decision and will contact the chosen company. The platform will have free access, with a non-profit approach. The aim is for local entrepreneurs and small businesses to become the main advertisers. The objective of the study was to evaluate the level of acceptance that the model would have in the Lima furniture market. The methodology had a quantitative approach with an exploratory scope and the sample was made up of 192 adults from medium and high socioeconomic level in the city of Lima. Additionally, as a complement, 18 local entrepreneurs were included to learn their point of view as potential advertisers. A virtual survey was applied and the results indicate that the perception of usefulness is high, as well as the intention to use, both on the consumers and entrepreneurs’ side. The main benefits associated to the platform were: facilitating the search for personalized products, encouraging competition among advertisers in favor of the consumer and avoiding unwanted advertising. Suggestions for improvement were also collected for future implementation.
Copyright (c) 2025 Jorge Montalvo Castro, Berta Paredes-Maibach, Beatriz Muñiz-Iturburu
Crónica, a newspaper for the men of the “people”
Although the presidency of Arturo Illia was marked by the proscription of Peronism, the period saw advances in freedom of expression and the representativeness and growth of publishing and cultural enterprises, a context in which the Buenos Aires daily Crónica emerged. Aimed at the popular sectors and featuring a sensationalist approach characterised by the prioritisation of sports and crime news, this outlet was part of the broader process of sociocultural revision that the 1960s underwent. Indeed, under the global context of the so-called "sexual revolution," Argentina witnessed the gradual questioning of major pillars of social organisation, such as the indissolubility of marriage and gender-based role divisions; thus, the traditional model of masculinity -a virile, strong man, head of the household, and a professional-. Understanding the media as political actors that construct social representations and propose ways of interpreting the world through ideas about what is and is not acceptable regarding gender, this article proposes to analyze Crónica within this process of revision of the family model. Based on a qualitative study, it will examine the representations of masculinities that Crónica constructed during its early years within the sports, police, entertainment, and women's sections. The documentary corpus includes the issues of Crónica published between 29 July 1963, the date of its foundation, and 28 July 1966, when the Illia government was overthrown and a dictatorial government took office, characterized by censorship, persecution, and the defense of the traditional values of Western Christian civilization.
Copyright (c) 2025 Carlos Sebastián Ciccone
Sociocultural factors in the spread of environmental misinformation
In light of the growing environmental challenges facing societies and the rise of misinformation, which is becoming a significant threat to informed decision-making and effective environmental action, this study investigates the correlation between sociocultural variables and the inclination to believe and share misinformation related to the environment. A survey was conducted among 334 adults residing in the Province of Arauco, located in south-central Chile. The study analyzes the data using Spearman correlation tests and ANOVA. The findings reveal that, in general, there is no significant correlation between sociocultural variables (generation, gender, educational level, ideology, and religion) and attitudes toward believing and sharing fake environmental news. In particular, a weak negative correlation was found between generation and the willingness to believe and share misinformation suggesting that older generations may exhibit lower susceptibility. Furthermore, politically engaged individuals showed a weak negative relationship, indicating a greater likelihood that political ideology influences the acceptance of misinformation. The results also highlight the underlying problem of people struggling to differentiate between true and false information, with a high percentage (83%) of participants failing to accurately identify the misinformation presented.
Copyright (c) 2025 Nicole Villagra, Oscar Basulto, Ignacio Alejandro Riffo Pavón https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Influencer marketing and communication are experiencing rapid growth, driving the expansion of research aimed at understanding how they work. The profiles of so-called influencers are highly diverse, and their impact varies depending on the context in which they operate. In this regard, platforms such as Instagram have consolidated their position as ideal spaces for brands to integrate these profiles into their communication strategies. To address the dynamics explained above, this study focuses on examining how researchers approach the study of this field, using a systematic review of the scientific literature as its methodology. Recurring keywords, research approaches, designs, and instruments used to achieve a variety of objectives related to understanding the phenomenon are analyzed. In addition, the subject matter of these publications is investigated. The results show that, far from declining, research in this field has experienced steady growth over the years, raising various concerns within the scientific literature related to the need to address aspects such as transparency in influencers' publications, the authenticity of their content, the effectiveness of the communication strategies implemented, and the real impact on the audience in a more comprehensive and detailed manner.
systematic review of scientific literature
Copyright (c) 2025 Tatiana Betzabé León-Alberca, Paula Renés-Arellano, José Ignacio Aguaded-Gómez, Ketty Daniela Calva-Cabrera
The militant humour of La Libertad Avanza and Unión por la Patria in Argentina's 2023 election campaign
This article describes the ways in which hypermedia political humour produced by Internet users who supported La Libertad Avanza (LLA) and Unión por la Patria (UP) operated in the 2023 Argentinean election campaign. Studies dedicated to this type of humour have shown that it plays a relevant role in contemporary political communication: it spreads more than serious publications, achieves a high degree of recall and introduces more citizens to the political debate, reinforcing party identifications. At the same time, some segments of the population tend to access the news seeking to understand the jokes in memes, and those same jokes can generate twists of meaning that ridicule elaborate campaign strategies. From a socio-semiotics of hypermediatisation, the article provides a panoramic description of the main ways in which militant political humour operated and the differences that occurred in the support of the two most voted political alliances in 2023. First, it describes the production of professional political humour accounts and the responses they received from their followers. Then, it focuses on an expanding mode of risibility that entertains the candidate himself, which was articulated with the production of fandom. From this observation, it analyses how this particular alliance served La Libertad Avanza to protect Milei from a lacerating attack in the first debate. All these procedures reveal a sophisticated knowledge of militancy about the firepower of humour and hypermedia circulation.
Copyright (c) 2025 Damián Fraticelli https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Media coverage of the 2023 national elections in Argentina
This study analyzes the media coverage of the 2023 presidential elections in Argentina, a crucial event that marked a reconfiguration of the Argentine political landscape. The 2023 elections, characterized by the highest number of candidate lists since 1983, took place in a context of hyperinflation and significant political changes. In this context, this study critically examines the role of cybermedia outlets Clarín, La Nación, Infobae and El Destape in shaping public discourse during this period. The research aims to identify the main sources of information, whether there was correlation among these sources across different media, the representation of key candidates, and the authorship behavior of the articles as indicators of informational quality. By comparing media coverage during the Primary, Open, Simultaneous and Mandatory (PASO) elections and the general elections, this paper highlights the processes of selection, omission, and prioritization of information that form the core of the media agendas during each period. The findings underscore the influence of media on political communication and the ongoing process of political legitimation through public discourse.
Copyright (c) 2025 María José Tello https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Exploring the path of Latin American female gamers
This research examines the profile of the Latin American female gamer, focusing on their entry into the world of video games and exploring the motivations, sensations, and experiences that influence their participation and appreciation of this medium. Using a quantitative methodological approach, a survey of 48 questions was conducted between April and May 2024 across the 20 countries of the region, yielding 220 responses. The results show that, for many participants, video games are not a fleeting pastime, but an activity rooted in childhood that endures over time. Additionally, there is a notable male influence in introducing the hobby to those who started in their childhood, while those who started in adulthood did so on their own initiative. The reasons for playing range from entertainment to cognitive challenge and escapism, highlighting the versatility of video games in meeting psychological and leisure needs. Furthermore, the therapeutic role of video games in stress management and as a form of personal and aesthetic expression is emphasized. It is concluded that female gamers have found in video games a continuous source of mental stimulation, relaxation, and aesthetic enjoyment, integrating them as a fundamental part of their daily lives and a significant means of social and emotional connection.
Copyright (c) 2025 Raúl Alejandro Treviño González, Tania Lucia Cobos Cobos
The analysis of media coverage presents itself as a central element for understanding the development of the Covid-19 pandemic, as it provides key insights into its dynamics and management. In this context, media agendas have been shaped by emerging knowledge about the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the measures implemented by governments, the positions of international health institutions, and technoscientific advancements aimed at controlling the virus’s spread and reducing mortality. From the outset, the World Health Organization (WHO) identified vaccines as a central component of strategies to overcome the crisis. This raises questions such as: What were the predominant themes in media coverage of Covid-19 vaccines? Did the topics and framings change as the pandemic progressed? And what model of science communication prevailed over time? This study analyzes news content from the Argentine newspapers Clarín and La Nación published between January 30, 2020, and December 24, 2021. It applies the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling technique and, following a comparative content analysis, identifies a six-topic model: the description of the pandemic at the national level, the international context of the pandemic, coverage of cases in minors, the pandemic’s progression in the provinces, vaccination and vaccines, and the consequences of vaccination. The results help identify the predominant topics from the onset of the pandemic through the arrival of vaccines, revealing a communication approach grounded in medical and educational models, centered on the dissemination of expert-driven information intended to guide public behavior.
Copyright (c) 2025 Erick Cruz-Mendoza, Luciano Guillermo Levin, María Ayelén Milillo
The Use of Social Media as a Communication Channel by Spanish Universities
This study presents a systematic review of the use of social media as communication and marketing channels by Spanish universities, following the PRISMA 2020 methodology. Based on the analysis of thirty scientific articles published between 2013 and 2023, the research identifies the most frequently used platforms, the main communication performance indicators, and the dominant research trends. The findings reveal a growing academic interest in this field, with a prevalence of correlational studies linking social media activity to institutional positioning and student recruitment. Twitter/X, Facebook, and YouTube emerge as the most analyzed platforms, while academic and messaging networks are gaining relevance as spaces for interaction. The conclusions highlight the need to move from an informative use of social media to a data-driven and engagement-oriented strategic management focused on institutional reputation and stakeholder participation. Future research should expand the analytical framework to include pedagogical and psychological perspectives and explore broader metrics to assess the social and communicative impact of universities in the digital ecosystem.
Copyright (c) 2025 Fernando Checa García, Víctor Núñez Fernández https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Intermedialities between cinema, comic and video game
Introduction: It analyses the Max Payne (Remedy Entertainment, 2001, 2003; Rockstar Games, 2012) videoludic saga and its relationship with the noir genre. Objective: The aim of this research is to detect the intermedial processes that occur in this series of video games and their link with the aesthetic-narrative forms of cinema and comics. Methodology: We proceed to review the narrative, aesthetic and symbolic intermedial processes of the saga by using art history and visual studies. Results: The main consequences of the study show the different transmissions that have taken place in the saga between the comic, the videogame and the cinema, as well as its connection with the noir genre and its characteristic aesthetic-narrative forms. Discussion: In view of the above, we have detected the main communicative and artistic forms from which the video game has been nourished to increase its significance and creative forms, defining a complex artistic structure where different communicative forms are brought together in a single medium. Conclusions: Ultimately we find that intermediality serves as an artistic and communicative tool that allows the enrichment of a medium and the broadening of its aesthetic-artistic forms, especially when this process is introduced into a highly codified structure as is the case of the noir genre and through the mediation of other artistic and cultural manifestations.
Copyright (c) 2025 Juan Luis Lorenzo-Otero https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
This report reflects on an innovative educommunicative practice that combines storytelling and gamification in university teacher training. It explores the use of ICT alongside narrative strategies to motivate teacher education students to integrate digital resources into their teaching practices, promoting both digital literacy and critical reflection on their use. The project, developed in Córdoba, Argentina, presents a cyberpunk-themed narrative inspired by the comic El Eternauta. It consists of ten chapters with multimedia storytelling, incorporating challenges related to the use of ICT tools and a point system to encourage participation. Platforms such as Genially and WordPress were used, providing an immersive and collaborative experience that fosters meaningful learning. This report situates the experience within the field of educommunication, warning against technicist approaches that prioritize the instrumental use of ICT. Instead, it advocates for a reflective perspective that emphasizes the development of learning autonomy and knowledge construction. Framed within the concept of convergence culture, the implemented project highlights the importance of designing pedagogical proposals that integrate media and platforms to foster active digital citizenship.
Copyright (c) 2025 Sergio Walter Salguero
Disinformation and misinformation in Ecuador
This study expands on the initial findings presented at the 2024 Alfamed Conference under the theme Social Networks and Citizenship, where the paper Disinformation and Misinformation in a Context of Ultramediations was introduced. It explores the relationship between disinformation and ultramediations within the contemporary Ecuadorian social context, with particular emphasis on the implications of digital illiteracy. The theoretical framework draws on key concepts such as media ecology, social mediations, and hypermediations, applying them specifically to the Ecuadorian case. The analysis highlights the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in widening the digital divide while proposing digital literacy as a crucial tool to counteract both disinformation and hate speech. The methodology integrates both qualitative and quantitative approaches: a literature review aimed at strengthening and expanding the theory of ultramediations, and an analysis of data from Ecuador’s National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC) covering the period from 2019 to 2022, with a focus on pandemic-related developments. Among the key findings, the study reveals a paradox: although internet access has increased, its use as a source of information has declined. This underscores the importance of understanding how users interact with and appropriate digital environments within a networked information flow model. The study argues that the theory of ultramediations offers essential conceptual tools for analyzing these interconnected dynamics. Finally, the research emphasizes the urgent need to design educational strategies that promote digital literacy in Ecuador, as a vital step toward critically and effectively confronting the challenges posed by disinformation in today’s media ecosystem.
Copyright (c) 2025 Marco López-Paredes, Andrea Carrillo-Andrade
Using serious game for practicing self-reflection and critical thinking to combat disinformation
<span class="NormalTextRun SCXW195915966 BCX0" data-ccp-charstyle="Ninguno" data-ccp-charstyle-defn="{"ObjectId":"3037d9b5-59d9-5ade-8dc1-fff1933c97a5|1","ClassId":1073872969,"Properties":[469775450,"Ninguno",201340122,"1",134233614,"true",469778129,"Ninguno",335572020,"1",335551547,"1033",469777841,"Times New Roman",469777842,"Times New Roman",469777843,"Arial Unicode MS",469777844,"Times New Roman",469769226,"Times New Roman,Arial Unicode MS"]}">Disinformation, defined as a widespread phenomenon involving the manipulation and dissemination of false information, is a global challenge, which is evolving alarmingly within our society. The rapid consumption of information and disinformation highlights the urgent need to train skills in reflection and critical thinking. Serious games are presented as effective educational resources for the training of these abilities, alongside other media and information literacy skills. This study focuses on the design and implementation of a serious game with nine scenarios inspired by cases of disinformation, simulating classroom environments. It examines the perceptions of a sample of Spanish teachers (n=133) regarding the use of this serious game and explores differences based on socio-demographic variables (gender, age, teaching experience, and familiarity with educational video games). The results show that teachers positively assessed the video game as a learning resource. The majority of participants perceived that it had helped them to develop critical thinking and assess their learning. Gender-based differences were observed, with female teachers rating the game’s utility for solving practical problems more highly than male participants. However, no significant differences were found based on age, educational level or familiarity with educational video games. We conclude with the need to use this type of educational resource to improve teachers’ literacy in addressing the new competences required to deal with misinformation. The serious game analyzed demonstrated strong applicability for being used across several educational levels, formal and non-formal.
Copyright (c) 2025 Maria Jose Hernández-Serrano, Marta Martín-del-Pozo, Noelia Morales-Romo
Challenges of media literacy in the face of misinformation and fake news
Este monográfico reúne una serie de investigaciones que abordan los desafíos actuales de la desinformación y la alfabetización mediática desde diversas perspectivas y contextos. En primer lugar, las autoras María José Hernández Serrano, Marta Martín del Pozo y Noelia Morales Romo en el artículo “Serious Game para la autorreflexión y el pensamiento crítico ante la desinformación”, nos presentan el uso de videojuegos educativos como herramientas eficaces para el desarrollo del pensamiento crítico en el ámbito docente, destacando su potencial en la formación frente a la desinformación. Por su parte, los autores Marco López-Paredes y Andrea Carrillo-Andrade con el título “Desinformación y mal información en Ecuador: Ultramediaciones en contextos de analfabetismo digital”, examinan el contexto ecuatoriano, subrayando la importancia de la alfabetización digital y la necesidad de comprender las dinámicas de la información en la era de las ultramediaciones. Finalmente, Sergio Walter Salguero presenta en la sección Informes de cátedra su trabajo “Periferia asediada. Reflexión sobre una práctica docente educomunicativa”, una presentación que muestra una experiencia innovadora en Córdoba, Argentina, que utiliza el storytelling y la gamificación para promover la alfabetización digital y la reflexión crítica en la formación docente universitaria, destacando la importancia de enfoques educomunicativos reflexivos que fomenten una ciudadanía digital activa.
Copyright (c) 2025 Patricia de Casas Moreno, Jensy Campos-Céspedes
The invisible persistence of the audionaute´s figure in Las cuatro revoluciones invisibles by José Luis Fernández
The study of sound mediatization has generally been a fairly niche area of research. Argentine researcher José Luis Fernández offers a perspective that frames it as a phenomenon with far-reaching structural consequences. The book explores the reconstruction of the "audionaut" figure as a central thread across four revolutions over the past century and a half. This perspective allows him to show how certain social practices that emerged around radio and phonographic consumption laid the groundwork for how internet users engage with media today.
Risk Communication regarding forest fires in the Province of Córdoba, Argentina
The increase in forest fires has become one of the most pressing socio-environmental issues worldwide, intensified by climate change and human activity. Within this framework, this article analyzes the case of Córdoba Province (Argentina), aiming to examine the communicative strategies implemented by the provincial government to reduce vulnerabilities, mitigate impacts, and strengthen response capacities to wildfire risks. The research is framed within an interpretive paradigm and adopts a case study methodological design, using qualitative techniques such as document analysis and open interviews with key actors. The analysis focuses on risk communication as a fundamental strategy for disaster risk management, understood as a dialogic process that involves the state, civil society, the private sector, and citizens. The study identifies five main groups of communicational actions: permanent campaigns for vulnerability reduction, specific campaigns in critical contexts, communicational reinforcements during crises, capacity-building campaigns, and communication actions during emergencies. Findings highlight the continuity of messages and diversity of media, although limitations persist regarding centralization, limited community participation, and lack of systematic impact evaluation. Although communication policies in Córdoba have advanced in terms of visibility and inter-institutional articulation, they still require greater strategic planning, decentralization, and a preventive and participatory approach. Strengthening communication as a tool for integrated disaster risk management is key to reducing vulnerabilities, legitimizing government action, and protecting both communities and the mountainous environment.
Copyright (c) 2025 Silvia Esther Fontana, María Soledad Ferrer https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Fundamentals of socio-technical mediatization
he purpose of this paper is to dispense with the anthropocentrism of the analysis of technological and symbolic production and appropriation by proposing the notion of ‘socio-technical mediatization’ which includes the performative capacity of technologies. To this end, the theoretical guidelines of the semio-anthropological perspective of mediatization are recovered, although it postulates the relevance of incorporating a socio-technical and symmetrical approach that does not over-determine human actions over the qualities of communication technologies. To this end, it draws on studies of technology and archaeological findings that postulate that technological innovation and use were the driving force behind the evolution of the human species.
Memorial configurations of women from the southern Buenos Aires suburbs regarding Malvinas War 1982
The transmedia educational project “The Malvinas from the southern Conurbano. 40 years after the War” – Faculty of Social Studies (unlz.edu.ar) invited the different curricular spaces to investigate the war conflict of 1982 in Argentina from different approaches and perspectives and to create content that expanded the theme from a gender perspective (s) and from a local dimension of the southern Buenos Aires suburbs, through materials and activities that make up a critical and transformative pedagogical proposal, transferable especially to other educational levels. Within the framework of this proposal, the chair of Semiology (Journalism, Social Communication, Public Relations and Advertising majors) and Semiology and Discourse Analysis (teachers and Bachelor of Arts), will improve experiences and stories of women from the southern conurbano related to the Malvinas War. This article narrates the teaching experience. Through ethnographic methodology, this proposal enabled an inquiry by the students, the implementation of concepts and analytical tools proposed by the subject, especially those linked to the narratives of memory, the approach to mythical discourses and the perception of urban space. This pedagogical proposal, framed in educommunication, allowed the students to recover voices of women from their own neighborhoods, participate in processes of reconstruction of collective memory, and thus (re)know part of recent Argentine history from the suburban perspective. From Semiology, the identity narrative and memory as a dimension of phenomenology are especially addressed. From there, history, memory and oblivion are understood as dialogic instances between experience and reflection, between personal and collective instances, between dominant and subordinate discourses.
Copyright (c) 2025 Gabriela Rosa Cicalese, Soledad Arreguez Manozzo
Introduction to the Monographic Issue: Politics and Digital Activism
In March 2024, Congress H was held in Lanzarote, with the aim of bringing together professionals and academics in the field of communication and audiovisual media. The "Politics and Digital Activism" track placed a special emphasis on topics related to political communication on social media, disinformation, and polarization. This issue of the journal Austral Comunicación presents a selection of articles that were presented within the framework of the Congress and that, from different theoretical perspectives and methodological tools, offer reflections on various types of discourses: those issued by Latin American presidents (Javier Milei in Argentina and Nayib Bukele in El Salvador); those produced within the context of right-wing political movements; and hate speech generated on the Twitch platform and in the digital ecosystem when the context is marked by political violence and insecurity.
Copyright (c) 2025 Ana Slimovich, Eugenie Richard
The Right, Its Rhetoric, and Legitimation Strategy
The purpose of this article is to analyze the use of rhetorical devices and paralinguistics as mechanisms to influence and persuade regarding charismatic legitimacy in the inaugural speeches of right-wing presidents Nayib Bukele, in his inauguration speech for his second term as President of El Salvador on June 1, 2024, and Javier Milei, in his inauguration speech as President of Argentina on December 10, 2023. To achieve this objective, a rhetorical discourse analysis methodology was proposed. First, selected sections of the analyzed corpus were chosen based on a categorization matrix. Second, categories and analysis codes were established, focusing on the mentioned approach, charismatic legitimacy, and paralinguistics. Third, an analysis of the samples was carried out in accordance with the established framework. Finally, conclusions were drawn, revealing that the use of rhetorical devices and paralinguistics influences the charismatic legitimacy these leaders hold in discursive terms, contributing to their highly personalized political strategies and their image within the context of right-wing democracies in Latin America.
Copyright (c) 2025 Nestor Julián Restrepo-Echavarria, Leidy Vanessa González Chavarría, Andrea Cano Muñoz
<span class="NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed SCXW30073467 BCX0" data-ccp-parastyle="normal1" data-ccp-parastyle-defn="{"ObjectId":"98bb2846-6420-47ed-9672-b49a7b339ec5|115","ClassId":1073872969,"Properties":[469775450,"normal1",201340122,"2",134234082,"true",134233614,"true",469778129,"normal1",335572020,"1",335559731,"567",335559740,"360",201341983,"0",469777841,"Times New Roman",469777842,"Lucida Sans",469777843,"NSimSun",469777844,"Times New Roman",469769226,"Times New Roman,Lucida Sans,NSimSun",268442635,"24"]}">Twitch has established itself as one of the favourite platforms among young people: 42.1% of its audience is between 18 and 24 years old, while the overall audience is 2,6 million viewers who consume around 6 billion hours of content per quarter. The platform originally focused on online video games, and now streamers - seven million worldwide - are expanding and diversifying their content, which is streamed live, making it mostly ephemeral and difficult to track. Twitch favours the creation of communities because content creators connect more directly with their young audience through the use of innovative narratives. However, this ease of connecting with the audience also poses risks, because streamers can promote polarisation and extremist discourse, particularly if, alongside entertainment, they articulate a more or less hidden political agenda that spreads toxic ideas. In a context where the media diet of young people is a concern, because they are still constructing their identity, this becomes relevant because they can be more easily manipulated. Case studies are presented where controversies have arisen around content broadcast on Twitch in order to: 1) identify the discursive patterns of toxic content (that which promotes homophobia, racism, misogyny, gender-based violence, terrorism, etc., or harms mental health on Twitch; and 2) critically analyse the platform's response in combating the dissemination of hate speech. One of the main conclusions is that, although the platform regularly modifies and expands its rules of conduct, media controversies are still frequent, reflecting the difficulty of finding a balance between content control and a sense of censorship.
Copyright (c) 2025 Núria Roca Trenchs, Alexandre López-Borrull, Ferran Lalueza
Racialization is a process through which belonging to a particular race is socially constructed and attributed to certain individuals or human groups based on intrinsic characteristics, such as skin colour, ethno-cultural origin, or phenotype. This phenomenon, as a discriminatory mechanism, serves as the material basis for the spread and reaffirmation of prejudices, exclusions, favouritism, and hate speech, especially in the current era, where digital technologies amplify these polarizing political processes. Thus, this paper analyses the racialization present in right-wing political movements on Facebook, based on an update of a previous study. The analysis adopts a quantitative approach, involving the extraction, data mining, and visualization of data from two widely recognized fanpages in Portugal: Nova Portugalidade and Associação Portugueses Primeiro. The sample covers a period of 8 years, from January 1, 2017, to January 1, 2024, comprising a total of 3,740 posts. The results indicate a remarkable growth of the Portuguese nationalist movement on Facebook. However, compared to the original study, there seems to be a trend of decline or stabilization in this growth over the past three years. The former African colonies and their peoples are subjects of racial framing, frequently suffering direct hate attacks.
Copyright (c) 2025 Branco Di Fátima, José Ricardo Carvalheiro
Analysis of the digital conversation in elections affected by political violence and insecurity
After the political crisis, exacerbated by levels of violence never recorded in the history of Ecuador, President Guillermo Lasso decreed the early termination of the legislative and presidential period, a process known as "Muerte cruzada", to call for early general elections on August 20, 2023. The campaign suffered a breakdown after the assassination of the presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, on August 9, 2023. The news, which made headlines on a national and international scale, provoked an intense social conversation on different social networks with an impact on voters given that the level of indecision increased. In this study, an x-ray of that digital conversation was carried out during the following seven days from the turning point that the assassination meant, in order to understand the frames of the conversation and the possible levels of connotation in the context of a topic that it lends itself to polysemy, redundancy and fragmentation. With the data obtained from social networks thanks to Golden Cía.'s Social Scan software, different categories were analyzed such as the number of posts, the size of the audience reached, the percentage of sentiment polarization, complemented with elements such as key terms, emoticons and verbs. The results confirm the impact that that moment had on the campaign by contrasting the topics of conversation with electoral preferences, the relevance of insecurity, the story about the search for culprits and, later, in the framework of the presidential debate, the effect on the relevance of some candidacies over others. The value of digital conversation analysis in understanding the strategic behavior of campaigns is highlighted.
Copyright (c) 2025 Caroline Avila, Saudia Levoyer
The sacred and violence in the digital communication ecosystem
The categories of the sacred and violence are at the center of René Girard's thought. Both his theory of the “scapegoat” and his vision of the indissoluble relationship between the sacred and violence serve as conceptual keys to study communication on digital platforms, especially from the perspective of an exuberant diffusion of the visually grotesque and the cloyingly sentimental. in the aesthetics of the digital networks. In this paper we propose the development of a theoretical scheme that allows a neo-mythical and neo-religious reading of communication in the digital ecosystem, as well as reflecting on its applicability in different fields of study from grotesque representations of the human body to the analysis of our emotions with respect to nature and non-human animals.
This work studies, from concepts of network theory, the creation and articulation of Catholic intellectual networks in interwar Europe. Particular attention is devoted to Jacques Maritain, who, from his residence in Meudon and through projects such as the Thomistic Studies Circle, the Society for the Philosophy of Nature and the editorial collection Le Roseau d’Or, became the main superconnector and the connection center of Catholicism, in the field of human sciences and literature, in interwar Europe. It is concluded that these Catholic intellectual networks were more dynamic and creative, in the field of human sciences and literature, than the ecclesiastical hierarchies of the moment. And that, in the face of the crisis of modernity, after the disruptive fever of the avant-garde and the trauma of the Great War, these networks offered, in interwar Europe, spaces of welcome, encounter and hope; prestigious intellectual and vital models, worthy of imitation; exciting collective projects, such as the Esprit and Cruz y Raya magazines; and belonging to a social network and a community of Catholic identity (intellectual, spiritual and friendly) with all the attractiveness of its social capital: maps of meaning, common references, publications and mutual aid networks. For all these reasons, these Catholic intellectual networks were key to repositioning Catholicism, in interwar Europe, as a reference in the human sciences and as a renewing and suggestive response to the crisis of modernity.
Copyright (c) 2025 Enrique Sánchez-Costa
Believing and Doubting in Science and Religion
This paper aims to explore the non-religious population (“nones”) in Mexico, with an emphasis on their attitudes toward religion and science. According to the national census in Mexico, the “nones” represent 10.6% of the total population, i.e., 13.3 million individuals (INEGI, 2020). Religion is a central discourse for the unaffiliated identity. When analysing the reasons individuals give to explain their religious disaffiliation, findings in the Mexican context show common attitudes, such as criticism of religion, autonomy, and indifference. The role of science, on the other hand, also frequently appears within the non-religious narrative, especially as a validation of the irreligious position. However, the incorporation of science is neither univocal nor unidirectional. This work elaborates further on some identified attitudes, such as: believing in science, science as a horizontal discourse, and the critique of the scientific realm as a dominant ideology. Following the postulate that individuals cope with social reality using religious and secular positions in different parts of their lives, this paper also suggests that religious and secular discourses, such as science, can coexist and converge in plural identities—especially in a cultural context such as the Mexican, defined by its baroque ethos.
Copyright (c) 2025 Carlos Nazario Mora Duro
Analysis of factors that affect the vaccination decision in a health emergency based on the Uruguayan experience
T The results of a qualitative study are presented, aimed at understanding the reasons why individuals in Uruguay chose to either get vaccinated against covid-19 or not. Data collection was conducted using two techniques: in-depth interviews and focus groups. Three population groups were selected: healthcare workers, parents of children aged 5 to 11, and young adults aged 18 to 29. The findings reveal that cultural and social factors (such as the country's vaccination culture, solidarity, respect for the elderly, trust in health authorities, among others) influenced the decision, as well as aspects determined by the historical context of the vaccination (for example, trust in the government's response to the pandemic). This study includes a literature review that identifies the field of study, explains the research methodology, provides references regarding the Uruguayan case, and finally summarizes the conclusions of the fieldwork. The results highlight two key aspects: the decision to vaccinate was driven by the perception of risk, and trust in the management of the pandemic was a determining factor. Additionally, there are direct references pointing to decisions based on moral systems, though not necessarily rooted in religious beliefs. The study emphasizes the positive influence of the scientific community (represented by the Honorary Scientific Advisory Group, GACH), while no references were made to religious leaders.
Copyright (c) 2025 Patricia Schroeder Rius, Inés Besada Paullier, María Gimena Suárez, Ana Lucía Mancuello
The role of religious leaders in social marketing and its importance in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Social marketing, as an extension of marketing (a behavioral science that tries to explain exchange relationships - in this case, when the product is an idea or social cause), can be a key tool for achieving the SDGs proposed in the United Nations 2030 Agenda because it seeks the common good, contributes to social change and improves people's well-being and quality of life. But, for social marketing campaigns and interventions to be successful, it is important to identify the cultural context and opinion leaders (in particular, religious leaders, who take on a special role because of their influence in their respective communities). This article therefore focuses on reflecting on and exploring the role played by religious leaders in social marketing. Through an exploratory study, different cases have been identified, from different parts of the world, in which religious leaders have influenced, positively or negatively, the social cause promoted, or behavior sought. Finally, a design proposal has been made for the planning of a social marketing campaign using religious leaders. In this way, this article aims to serve as an example of how behavioral sciences and religious beliefs can not only be compatible but even complementary (in this case, in the context of social marketing).
Copyright (c) 2025 M. Mercedes Galan-Ladero
Scientific and Religious Perceptions of Biology Teachers in Latin America on the Teaching of Evolution
This study explores the scientific and religious perspectives of biology teachers in Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay regarding the teaching of evolutionary theory, with a particular focus on the potential inclusion of belief in intelligent design within the evolutionary process. The research adopts a mixed-methods approach, integrating qualitative and quantitative techniques through the application of an international questionnaire (BIOHEAD-CITIZEN) and semi-structured interviews. This segment of the thesis, which underpins the analysis, examines responses to question B.44, which assesses the significance assigned by teachers to the concept of an "intrinsic program within the organism (intelligent design)." The findings indicate that, while educators in all three countries acknowledge some degree of scientific relevance to the idea of intelligent design in biological evolution, subtle differences emerge, with Uruguayan teachers exhibiting the greatest resistance to this perspective. The study highlights the influence of religiosity on teachers' perceptions and underscores the challenges of teaching evolution, particularly in Brazil, where there is a stronger inclination to reconcile evolutionary theory with religious beliefs. The discussion emphasizes the necessity of understanding these complexities to enhance educational strategies and foster a constructive dialogue between science and faith.
Copyright (c) 2025 Heslley Machado Silva