Affective rebirth: Discursive gateways to contemporary national socialism

Abstract

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.

Affect as a multimodal practice

“…In the present work, however, affect is not separated from emotions as embodied arousals that exist prior to cognition, discourse or semiosis. Affect is instead conceived of as a relational concept that signifies intersubjective experiences and their performative role in the formation of collective subjectivities, identities and belongings through discourse (Franzèn et al, 2020; Milani and Køhler Mortensen, 2020; Motschenbacher, 2020; Westberg, 2021). Put differently, emotions (e.g., anger, desire, hope, disgust, fear, love, pride, shame, etc.)…”

“…Thus, the proposed technique is a strategy for considering the social work of emotions and contemplating what subject formation does from a certain intersubjective horizon. A similar approach is adopted by Björkvall et al (2020), where the spatial semiotics of affect at international airports are interpretated from the perspective of “the ordinary traveler,” as well as in Westberg (2021), where I engage with the social force of neo-Nazi propaganda from the perspective of the ideal recruit.…”

“…Alternative perspectivations will necessarily engender alternative intersubjectivities and will therefore focus on diverse social effects. For instance, the study of neo-Nazi propaganda recently mentioned contends that the propaganda positions the ideal Nazi recruit through emotions such as pride, bravery and hope, whereas the very same propaganda has the potential to engage ideologically reluctant subjects through emotions of fear, anger or worry (Westberg, 2021).…”

“…Within the field of multimodal discourse studies, affect is currently gaining attention as a starting point for investigating how power and social forces are enacted through different modes of communication. In relation to diverse political and social phenomena such as homosocial belonging (Franzèn et al, 2020; Kiesling, 2018), neo-Nazi recruitment (Westberg, 2021), premium tourism and traveling (Björkvall et al, 2020; Thurlow, 2020), queer- and language activism (Årman, 2020; Milani, 2015) and the rise of right-wing populism (Breeze, 2019; Wodak, 2015), scholars point to the importance of acknowledging multimodal communication for its potential to accomplish affective meaning-making (cf. Milani and Køhler Mortensen, 2020; Wetherell, 2012).…”

Corona, vaghet och skam : Om myndighetskommunikation och affekt på sociala medier

“…ger upphov till diskursiva praktiker där frågor om skuld, moral och känslor står i centrum. Teoretiskt strävar artikeln efter att begripliggöra intertextualiteten mellan myndigheternas styrning och medborgares reception av styrningen som en affektiv diskursiv praktik (Ahmed 2004, Wetherell 2012, Westberg 2020, u.u. 2020.…”