About the project
The majority in violent extremist groups are men. Yet, while research has studied various aspects of violent extremism, the role of masculinity in extremist ideology, organization, recruitment, and radicalization has largely been neglected.
This workshop will draw together Nordic scholars to explore masculinity in right-wing, left-wing, and Islamic extremists, as well as in ‘manosphere’ and far-right movements. Our point of departure is that extremist groups across the political and religious spectrum have resembling understandings of masculinity, and advocate masculinist politics and a remasculinization of particularly young men through violence.
Non-violent far-right and anti-gender movements also often argue for the need to restore lost manhood. Exploring the link between masculinity and extremism is particularly important in a Nordic setting with its history of advocating gender equality, as extremists often see feminism as a common enemy. These workshops will bring together researchers from the Nordic countries and globally for in-person meetings, which will establish a critical mass to synthesize scholarship and enable collaboration with international scholars. This new cooperation will advance research and provide knowledge valuable for professionals and government agencies in the Nordic countries.
Workshop 1: Radicalization as a remasculinization strategy?
15-16 May, 2023, Dept. of Sociology and Social Work, Aalborg University
Extreme political movements promise to restore masculinity, which could be attractive for men who feel emasculated. The workshop will discuss the potentials and pitfalls of understanding radicalization as a remasculinization strategy.
Workshop 2: Violent extremism and the manosphere.
12-13 October 2023, Dept. of Child & Youth Studies, Stockholm University.
The workshop will focus on presentations of state-of-the-art empirical and conceptual research on misogynist manosphere movements, including radicalization pathways within and between groups, and the manosphere as a place for right-wing extremist recruitment.
Workshop 3: Masculinist anti-gender activism and violent extremism.
8-9 February 2024, C-REX, University of Oslo.
The workshop will explore ideological and organizational overlaps between masculinist anti-gender activism and violent extremism. New future collaborative projects with an additional focus on policy implications and the interactions of research and policy in the field of violent extremism will be developed.
Funding
This project is funded by the The Joint Committee for Nordic research councils in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NOS-HS) - a cooperation between the research councils in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden responsible for research within the Humanities and Social Sciences.