Agnieszka Pasieka

Reconquering the imaginary, remaking the society: notes on contemporary far-right activism

Abstract

Drawing on ethnographic research with youth far-right militants, in this talk I discuss two strongly intertwined dimensions of their activism: their attempts to shape (national) historical narratives and the practices of social assistentialism targeting “co-nationals in need.” I argue that, taken together, these practices allow us to understand key pillars of the contemporary far-right political project. At the same time, in arguing that it is necessary to better understand local contexts of political mobilization, I also foreground the transnational orientation of young far-right militants and the interplay of local and translocal factors in shaping their activism.

Agnieszka Pasieka

is a socio-cultural anthropologist. She is an Elisa Richter Fellow at University of Vienna and a visiting research fellow at Yale University. Since 2016, she has been carrying an ethnographic research on transnational networking of European far-right activists. Her previous work addressed the situation of religious minorities in contemporary Poland. She is the author of numerous publications on religion, nationalism, multiculturalism, political radicalism, and qualitative methodology.