Dr. Luciano Santander

My PhD thesis focused on the discursive strategies of Chilean right-wing political elites following the 2019 Estallido protests. Approaches from constructivism, political sociology, and microsociology generated a dialogue between party dynamics and individual narratives, contributing to debates on radicalization toward far-right positions in Chile, Latin America, and globally.

My work draws on a mixed-methods approach. On the qualitative side, I combine in-depth interviews with hard-to-reach participants, ethnographic fieldwork, and discourse analysis to understand how political actors construct temporal narratives as mechanisms of radicalization and legitimation. On the quantitative side, I specialize in the collection and analysis of large-scale datasets and social-media content, bringing computational techniques to bear on political communication and digital mobilization.

I have conducted fieldwork across Chile, Germany, the UK, and Brazil, building expertise in navigating complex and sometimes hostile research environments.