THE DISCURSIVE CONSTRUCTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND ITS TENSIONS: THE CASE OF THE EXTREME RIGHT IN BRAZIL

ABSTRACT This study investigates the meanings of human rights in the extreme right speech in Brazil focusing on the ideological dimension of this processes and its effects on the construction of a new hegemony. The discussion is based upon Critical Discourse Analysis, from Norman Fairclough ([1992] 2001; 2003), in dialogue with Ernesto Laclau’s Discourse Theory (LACLAU; MOUFFE [1985] 2015; LACLAU 1990; 2013) as theoretical references. The results indicate that the discursive construction of human rights, beyond the normative scope, occurs in several practical mobilizations, involves meaning and power disputes and is a fundamental part of the contemporary construction and transformation of meaning systems. According to the analysis, the discursive construction of human rights, in the context of emerging extreme right populism in Brazil today, integrates a discursive articulation characterized by an emptying of its significance.