Common sense as extremism: the multi-semiotics of contemporary national socialism

Westberg, Gustav; Årman, Henning

doi:10.1080/17405904.2019.1624183

Cited by 6 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 32 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Contemporary Swedish anti-immigrant far-right narratives likewise draw on Swedish nationalist orderings and thus bear certain similarities to the discourse of NBI. For example, the national socialist group, the Nordic Front, exults outdoor lifestyles in balance with nature (Westberg and A ˚rman, 2019). Similarly, the right-wing Sweden Democrat party glorifies previous times where Sweden was supposedly culturally continuous and unified Rydgren, 2017, 2018).…”

Section: Discussion: the Effects Of The Nbi Orderingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Go to the forest! Exploring the orderings of Swedish Nature-Based Integration

Singleton

2020

Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

‘Nature-Based Integration’ (NBI) has been proposed as a solution to two prominent issues in contemporary Nordic societies: increasing separation from nature among ‘modern’ societies; and the need to ‘integrate’ groups of diverse newcomers. This article examines NBI activities in Örebro County, central Sweden, exploring how these practices seek to bring immigrants into a shared Swedish experiential landscape that forms part of the work of ordering Sweden as a community. These activities form part of an ordering project, within which ‘Swedes’ and ‘newcomers’ are situated, drawing on extant nationalist orderings. Likewise, it represents part of an effort to enact a sustainable Sweden in an international world. Drawing on research on environmental racism and (in)justice, this article homes in on the norms implicit and explicit to this ordering. It then discusses the implications of this, highlighting (arguably unavoidable) coercive elements. Furthermore, the long history of outdoor lifestyle as a pillar of Swedish nationalism and the embracing of such activities by the Swedish far right highlight that nature may also become a site of conflict as much as conciliation. Finally, the article considers the types of environmental action arising from the NBI orderings and the likelihood of meaningful environmental change.

show abstract

Section: Discussion: the Effects Of The Nbi Orderingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Go to the forest! Exploring the orderings of Swedish Nature-Based Integration

Singleton

2020

Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…By hanging on to an engaged position, the representation of Sápmi as a site that bears no sign of human impact feeds into a collective lifestyle discourse where unspoiled nature is anticipated as a site for recreation (cf. Westberg and Årman, 2019). For instance, it is possible to trace this visually coded anticipation of nature in stock images in commercial image banks such as Getty Images (cf.…”

Section: Sámi Authenticity As Multimodal Affective Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Affect as a multimodal practice

Westberg

2021

Multimodality & Society

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper sets out a framework for analyzing affect as a multimodal practice. The overall objective is to contribute to the theoretical development of how affect can be approached as an object of semiotic enquiry. The framework is based on the assumption that affect is semiotically materialized through discourse, and with the ambition of taking multimodality seriously, subject formation, strategic perspectivation and affordance are proposed as conceptual starting points for the study of affective meaning-making. Examples are drawn from artifacts and images that represent the Sámi as desirable objects to consumers and tourists. Through a detailed semiotic analysis of a pair of jeans described as being Sámi inspired, and through an analysis of images that promote Sámi tourism experiences, the paper demonstrates how affective ways of being emerge in a relationship between the affordance of semiotic materials and different subjectivities. These insights point to the possibility of further investigating affective subject formation as materialized in diverse semiotic materials in relation to other social phenomena, political issues and ideological concerns.

show abstract

“…The dataset under investigation constitutes leaflets distributed in public, as well as the NMR’s own handbook. The handbook can be bought at the NMR’s web shop and is promoted as a text that is “not only for activists of the NMR, but also to active party members and to all who can actively be associated with the organization regardless of individual level of engagement.” 2 Whereas the leaflets primarily fulfill the communicative task of attracting new members (and also confronting ideological opponents), the handbook provides a guide on how to live and embody national socialism in every aspect of life (see Westberg and Årman, 2019). The handbook further thematizes leaflet distribution and states that “Every citizen in Scandinavia, regardless of whether they sympathize or not, should receive leaflets on a regular basis” (p. 41) and also that leaflets should be strategically distributed in areas and to individuals who have expressed sympathy for the NMR.…”

Section: Palingenesis and The Case Of Swedish National Socialismmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In relation to the articulation of palingenesis, the analysis will elucidate how potential recruits and other actors (primarily scapegoats) are represented, the eligibility conditions they are ascribed and what actions they are represented as being engaged in (Van Leeuwen, 2008: 7–12). Although recent studies have revealed how the ideal subject of contemporary fascism often is multimodally envisaged (Forchtner and Kølvraa, 2017; Kølvraa and Forchtner, 2019; Miller-Idriss, 2017; Westberg and Årman, 2019), the dataset under investigation primarily consists of written text. Detailed and systematic attention will accordingly be paid to the linguistic resources employed to represent palingenesis in the recruitment propaganda, although socio-semantic rather than grammatical categories are applied.…”

Section: Analytical Framework: Affect Representation and Critiquementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In order to approach national socialism as a contemporary ideology rather than as a phenomenon of the past, the myth of palingenesis is examined when recontextualized within the current Swedish neo-Nazi milieu (cf. Forchtner and Kølvraa, 2017; Rheindorf and Wodak, 2019; Westberg and Årman, 2019). Here, I examine how the most prominent national socialist movement in Sweden – The Nordic Resistance Movement ( Nordiska Motståndsrörelsen , henceforth referred to as the NMR) – recontextualizes the myth in propaganda texts and leaflets targeting new members.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Affective rebirth: Discursive gateways to contemporary national socialism

Westberg

2020

Discourse & Society

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper engages with the growth of contemporary fascism by arguing that affect plays a key role in its discourse. Departing from an understanding of affect as integral to discourse, the paper explores how the myth of palingenesis is employed by the most prominent Swedish Nazi movement to recruit new members. A methodological combination of affective – discursive theory, detailed representational analysis, and a critical reading that buys into the representations reveals the recruitment discourse as offering an affective script of feeling angry, insulted, and ashamed, as well as courageous, proud, and hopeful. These findings offer important insights into how affective–discursive practices are employed to create gateways to radicalization and ideologically motivated violence. In order to make sense of the attractiveness of contemporary fascism, the paper concludingly argues for multifaceted readings and contemplative critical engagement with the far and extreme right.

show abstract

Common sense as extremism: the multi-semiotics of contemporary national socialism

Cited by 6 publications

References 32 publications

Go to the forest! Exploring the orderings of Swedish Nature-Based Integration

Go to the forest! Exploring the orderings of Swedish Nature-Based Integration

Affect as a multimodal practice

Affective rebirth: Discursive gateways to contemporary national socialism

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About