Dr Olivier Jutel
BA, PGDip, MA, PhD (The University of Otago)
Lecturer
Contact
Office: 3N4, 3rd Floor, Arts (Burns)
Tel: 64 3 471 6096
Email: olivier.jutel@otago.ac.nz
Researchgate.net
Academia.edu
Google Scholar
Background
A former journalist and media worker Olivier's work has been concerned with the emergence of right-wing populism in and through affective forms of media. This was the principle focus of his doctoral thesis entitled 'Liberalism and its Populist Excess' which centered on the relationship between Barack Obama, Fox News, the Tea Party and far-right online spaces. This research agenda has tracked very closely with tumultuous developments in western democracies and the swing from a political techno-utopianism to increasing concern over information warfare. Jutel's recent publications have centered on Donald Trump, the alt-right, online conspiracy theories and the scramble to reconstitute regimes of truth by politicians, journalists and tech-companies. His ongoing work examines the role of techno-utopian discourse in ICT development policy in the Pacific and the impact of cyber threats to democracy in the region.
Research Interests and Expertise
- Populism and the Political
- Discourse and Psychoanalytic Political Theory
- Online Social Movements
- Affective Media and Publics
- Cyber-libertarianism
- Blockchain and Web 3.0
Olivier's research agenda is highly interdisciplinary bringing together critical theory, social movement theory, journalism studies and psychoanalysis in explaining the rise of populism, reactionary online publics and the failures of normative liberal visions of the internet. He has appeared on RNZ, ABC and in The Daily Beast to discuss the ascendant populist moment and online subcultures.
2023 papers
Olivier is teaching MFCO 220 Writing for the Media, MFCO 315 Digital Media and Society and MFCO 312 Communication and the City.
Publications
Forthcoming. 'The Horror of Communication', Psychoanalysis Culture & Society.
Forthcoming. 'Platform Governance and the Hybrid War Industrial Complex', Russiagate Revisited ed by Boyd-Barret, O. Marmura, S. Palgrave: London.
2022. 'Fox News', Encyclopedia of Journalism 2nd Edition ed by Borchard, G. Sage: New York
2021. 'Blockchain Humanitarianism and Crypto-Colonialism', Patterns: Cell Press.
2021. 'Blockchain Imperialism in the Pacific', Big Data & Society. 8:1, 1-14.
2020. 'Blockchain: Truth, Value and Affect', Affect, Algorithms and Political Imagination: Interdisciplinary Research for the age of Post-Truth Media ed by Boler, M. & Davis, E. Routledge: London.
2019. 'Fake News and Technocratic Class Consciousness', Post-truth and the Mediation of Reality: New Conjunctures, ed Overell, R. & Nicholls, B. Palgrave: London.
2019. 'Post-Politics', Routledge Handbook of Psychoanalytic Political Theory, ed Stavrakakis, Y. Routledge: London
2018. 'Donald Trump, American Populism and Affective Media', Routledge Handbook of Global Populism, ed by De La Torre, C. Routledge: London.
2018. 'American Populism, Glenn Beck and Affective Media', International Journal of Cultural Studies. 21 (4): 375-392.
2017. 'Affective Media, Cyberlibertarianism and the New Zealand Internet Party', tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique, 15: 1, 337-354.
2017. 'Donald Trump's Libidinal Entanglement with Liberalism and Affective Media Power', Boundary2 Online, online first: 1-18.
2016. 'The Liberal Field of Journalism and the Political', Journalism: Theory, Practice & Criticism, 17:8, 1129-1145.
2013. 'Populism and the New Political Economy of the Media Field', Political Economy of Communication, 1:1, 26-42.
2012. 'Barack Obama, The New Spirit of Capitalism and the Populist Resistance', International Journal of Žižek Studies, 6:3.
2012. '“Why Can't We Be Friends?” Scooped Book Review', New Zealand Journal of Media Studies, 13:2, 160-163.
2011. 'Neoliberal Discourse and the Global Food Crisis', Borderlands, 10:3, 1-24.
2011. '“The Way of the World”, Neoliberal Discourse, the Media and Fisher & Paykel's Offshore Relocation', Communication, Politics & Culture, 44:1, 33-44.
General Interest Publications
2022. 'Sun, Sea and Sandboxes. What are Crypto Innovators Testing in the Pacific?', Reuters, February 4. (co-authored with Pete Howson).
2021. 'Olivier Jutel on Blockchain Imperialism', The Crypto Syllabus, December 30
2019. 'Blockchain and the Technology of Truth', Newsroom, October 21.
2018. 'Surveillance Valley: An Interview with Yasha Levine', Springerin, 24:3, 12-15. (republished in Eurozine)
2018. 'Truth and Denial', Springerin, 24:1, 16-21 .
2017. 'Paranoia and Delusion: American Liberalism's Descent into Cold War Fantasies', Overland, Spring: 227.
2017. 'Kia Ora! A Critical Assessment of Jacindamania', The South Lawn, October 21.
2017. 'The Alt-Right and the Death of Counter-Culture: A Review of Angela's Nagle's “Kill All Normies”', Overland, July 7.
2017. 'Vale Teresia Teaiwa', Overland, March 27.
2017. 'The Democratic Party is Already Great!', Overland, February 2.
2016. 'John Key and the Political Logic of Desire', Overland, Winter: 223.
2016. 'Trump, Fascism, Putin and Wikileaks: Anatomy of a Liberal Nervous Breakdown', Overland, August 8.
2016. 'Weekend at Bernie's', Overland, May 5.
Seminars/Conference Presentations
2022. 'The Lacanian Subject of Cyberwar'. Understanding the Challenges Around Democracy, Social Media and Security in Aoteroa. Massey, (Zoom), May 2-5.
2022. 'Blockchain Imperialism'. Department of Communications and New Media, National University of Singapore, (Zoom), January, 28.
2021. 'Blockchain and Technology for a Sustainable Future'. Bruin Tech. University of California Los Angeles (Zoom), December, 8.
2021. 'The Libidinal Deadlock of Populism and Liberalism'. University of Pittsburgh (Zoom), October 13.
2021. 'Blockchain, Affect and Meme Economics', Affective Politics of Digital Media: Book Launch. University of Toronto (Zoom), April, 20.
2020. 'Blockchain Imperialism', International Communication Association, 20-27 May.
2019. 'Fake News, Civility and Subversion: Journalism's Cultural Capital and Donald Trump', Journalism Educators and Research Association of Australia Conference. University of Sydney, December 4.
2019. 'Post-Politics and Disavowal: Liberal Journalism's Response to Trump', Emotions, Populism and Polarised Politics, Media and Culture Conference. University of Helsinki, August 20.
2018. 'Data-Fetishism, Surveillance and the Failure of Networks: Social Media After Trump', Political Studies Department Seminar Series, University of Otago, May 16.
2018. 'Donald Trump the War on Science and Affective Publics', Centre for Science Communication Seminar Series, University of Otago, February 7.
2017. 'Conspiracy and the Void of Identity', Mediating the Real 2: Mediations in a 'post-truth' era, University of Otago, November 22-24.
2017. 'Donald Trump and Affective Media Power', International Association of Media and Communication Researchers, Cartagena, Columbia (paper accepted unable to attend).
2016. 'Glenn Beck and Affective Media Production', International Communication Association, Fukuoka, Japan, June 9-13.
2012. 'Populism and the Political Economy of the Media Field', International Association of Media and Communication Researchers, University of Kwazulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa, July 15-19.
2011. 'Populism and the Political', New Zealand Political Studies Association, University of Otago, December 1.
2011. 'Barack Obama's Civil Society Politics and the Populist Resistance', Journalism, Media and Democracy, AUT, September 15.
2010. 'The Global Food Crisis, Neoliberal Discourse and the Political Economy of the Media', Journalism, Media and Democracy, AUT, September 15.
2009. '“The Way of the World, Neoliberal Discourse, the Media and Fisher & Paykel's Offshore Relocation', New Zealand Political Studies Association, University of Auckland, December 7.
Publications
Jutel, O. (2023). Platform governance and the hybrid war industrial complex. In O. Boyd-Barrett & S. Marmura (Eds.), Russiagate revisited: The aftermath of a hoax. (pp. 271-293). Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-30940-3_13
Jutel, O. (2023). Blockchain financialization, neo-colonialism, and Binance. Frontiers in Blockchain, 6, 1160257. doi: 10.3389/fbloc.2023.1160257
Jutel, O. (2023). The horror of communication. Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society, 28, 53-71. doi: 10.1057/s41282-022-00316-x
Jutel, O. (2022, May). The Lacanian subject of cyberwar. Verbal presentation at the Understanding the Challenges Around Democracy, Social Media and Security in Aotearoa Conference, [Online].
Jutel, O. (2022). Fox News. In G. A. Borchard (Ed.), The SAGE encyclopedia of journalism. (2nd ed.) (pp. 679-683). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. [Encyclopaedia/Dictionary Entry].