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Article published In:
Special inaugural issue: Translating the Extreme
[Translation in Society 1:1] 2022
► pp. 83–104

After the storm

Translating the US Capitol storming in Germany’s right-wing digital media ecosystem

ORCID logo | University of Copenhagen
| University of Copenhagen

This study investigates the translational practices of far-right activists in Germany through content analysis of storytelling about the January 6 storming of the US Capitol in influential German alternative news websites. Findings reveal how far-right commentators used their intermediary position to re-narrate, translate, and convert ‘mainstream’ accounts of an exceptionally contentious event into stories supporting far-right- wing and extremist identities. Re-narrations of January 6 events characterized protesters as victim-heroes and contrasted them with the true villains responsible for the chaos and violence, which included a broad spectrum of political actors on the ideological left writ large.

Keywords: translation, social movements, ideology, narratives, far right, digital media, mobilization
Article outline
  • Politics of translation in digitally mediated information environments
    • Translation in mobilization processes
    • Far right translations: Contesting the ‘mainstream’ media
    • Storytelling in social movements and character ‘polysemy’
  • Methods and data: Unpacking translational practices
  • Findings
    • Ideological positionings in far-right translations: Omitting, selecting, and re-writing political events
    • Self-positioning as alternative media experts
    • Re-narrating political events through victim-heroes and martyr character tropes
  • Discussion and conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 26 January 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/tris.21008.doe
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