Love Jihad in Contemporary Art in Norway

Abstract

This article explores the concept of ‘love jihad’ and the love jihad discourse in a Scandinavian setting, with a particular emphasis on contemporary works of art and popular culture in Norway. Arguing that ‘love jihad’ may be understood as part of a larger cluster of meaning related to fear of love across religious and cultural boundaries, and of losing ‘our women’ to ‘foreign men’, the article demonstrates that the love-jihad discourse and its related tropes exist in the Norwegian public sphere. It is directly articulated in far-right blogs and Facebook groups and indirectly present in the works of art and popular culture that this article explores. Indeed, read intertextually and in light of recent research in sociology and media studies about Islamophobia and anti-Muslim rhetoric on the Internet, works such as Disgraced, Heisann Montebello, SAS plus/SAS pussy, and Norskish demonstrate—through challenging, mocking or discussing the love-jihad discourse—that ‘love jihad’ has echoes in contemporary Norway.

Introduction: “Love Jihad”: Sexuality, Reproduction and the Construction of the Predatory Muslim Male

“…A salient topic within such debates was the question about conversion of the female partner. As discussed by Frøystad (2021), Frydenlund (2021), andZorgati (2021) in this Special Issue, anti-Muslim conspiracy theories such as "love jihad" are added to already existing social processes of contestation and boundary work with regard to interreligious marriages.…”

“…A recurrent theme in this Special Issue is that "love jihad" may be understood as part of a larger cluster of meaning related to fear of love across religious and cultural boundaries, and of losing "our" women to "foreign" men. Zorgati (2021) explores in 'Love Jihad in Contemporary Art in Norway' the extent to which "love jihad" tropes and themes thrive in postmodern, secular Norway (and Sweden), where gender equality is particularly emphasized and where patriarchal structures are far less prevalent than in India or Myanmar, for example. Zorgati finds that tropes infuse the Scandinavian variant of the love jihad discourse: the oppressed Muslim woman; the dangerous Muslim man; the blonde, white woman; and the gentle, but threatened white man.…”

“…In such far-right discourses, it is pointed out, where the female body represents the boundary of the nation, Scandinavian women are either feminist traitors or vulnerable girls. Importantly, however, far-right discourses of "love jihad" are met with debate and resistance, noticeably in contemporary art work, for example, in music by the nationally famous and widely acclaimed Norwegian hip hop group Karpe (Zorgati 2021).…”