A commentary on the special issue Performance and Citizenship: Challenging populist political performances through citizenship as performance?

This piece teases out the links between this special issue’s key themes regarding performance and citizenship and the distinct realities of transitional democracies. To contribute to generating insights into other countries currently in the grip of populist political regimes, it looks at the case of the Philippines. In this context, it matters to think about the diversity of productions that can enable performances of citizenship. This is because contemporary media and communication research in the country has understandably but narrowly prioritised the toxicity of online political discourse brought about by the rise of populist political performances and political trolling. It also matters in the Philippines to think about the role of those involved in productions about performances of citizenship. This is because of the problems posed by how ‘authenticity’ has been hijacked by populism and has been weaponised against those who seek to critique the current political dispensation.