Abstract

The anthropological study of the politicians' voices opens up new interpretative perspectives on Italian populism and its anti-democratic dimension. In line with Elias Canetti's conceptual development on acoustic masks, this contribution attempts to understand how particular voices promote the formation of diverse social bodies. While the languages of Umberto Bossi and Beppe Grillo have important similarities, Matteo Salvini's communication breaks completely with the basic determinants of identification: through social media, the leader of Lega is building a new type of social body that also questions the impact of digital devices on our sensitivity.