Landscaping gender, sexuality, and hope in the 2022 Philippine presidential elections

Abstract

Abstract This paper investigates the Linguistic Landscape (LL) of Leni Robredo’s 2022 presidential campaign rallies in the Philippines and explores the role of gender and sexuality in constructing prefigurative spaces within the offline-online nexus. Through artifacts used during the campaign, the paper examines how Robredo supporters utilize semiotic resources and intertextual references from popular and meme culture as well as LGBTQ+ media to adopt stances vis-à-vis gender and sexuality. The paper suggests that the aggregation of these stances elicit affects that facilitate a prefigurative genderscape where participants enact an ethos of hope. While these practices cannot completely transcend entrenched forms of power (e.g., macho populism and dynastic democracy), they materialize a potential future characterized by a people-driven movement. The paper proposes a future direction for LL studies: engaging prefigurative politics in the examination of the emergent spaces that respond to increasing precarity and sociopolitical upheavals.