Normalisering av rasism i demokratiska samhällen

This new research theme on CEMFOR’s agenda corresponds with the currently leading body of international research on discourses and practices of either political mainstreaming and/or deeper and social-wide normalization of various regimes and politics of discrimination and exclusion, including as a token of far-right politics and wider illiberal, nativist, ethno-nationalist and exclusionary trends. The theme links our new work on normalization of racism and/as mediated and political strategy with previous research and networking activities on mainstreaming of fascism and other exclusionary, historically contingent ideological compounds in contemporary societies in Sweden, Europe and beyond.

Current research projects:

• Invandring och normalisering av rasism: Diskursiva skiften i svensk politik och svenska medier 2010-22.
  Projektledare: Michal Krzyzanowski.
• ​Vardagsnationalism under coronapandemin. En utforskning av vardagsnationalistiska praktiker i det svensk-finska gränsområdena.
  Projektledare: Katrina Gaber
• Vit nostalgi. Hemhörighetens och tillhörighetens politik
  Projektledare: Mattias Gardell
• Koloniala dåtider, koloniala samtider – Nation, territorium och expansionsfront i det samtida Brasilien.
  Projektledare: Patricia Lorenzoni

Past Research Projects:

• Arga vita män?
  Projektledare: Mattias Gardell
• Metodologiska laboratorier.
  ​Projektledare: Mattias Gardell
• Immigrant mothers – racialized children. Pathways, conflicts and visions. ​Projektledare: Irene Molina
• Code, narrative, history: Making sense of Ancient DNA in Contemporary culture ​Projektledare: Daniel Strand
• Illustrations of Humans as Species and Race.
  ​Projektledare: Ulrika Kjellman

Formal research networks:

NORFAS: (Network for Nordic Fascism Studies) is a research network of historians, established in early 2018 on the initiative of Mattias Gardell, exploring the entangled dynamics of various forms of Nordic fascism and radical nationalism in the Nordic countries. NORFAS scholars all work from an understanding that to capture the interdependencies of fascism and far right across the Nordic region, we need to abandon methodological nationalism in favour of transnational and entangled approaches to supranational phenomena. NORFAS’ aim is to facilitate and promote sound critical research on fascism and the far right, and disseminate the findings to other scholars and the wider society. The NORFAS members support each other by sharing sources and insights, and by providing constructive criticism on works in progress, including publications and research proposals.

NORFAS activities include organising seminars, workshops, symposia and conferences to stimulate theoretical and methodological development in order to produce empirical knowledge on fascism and far right in the Nordic countries. NORFAS provides a platform for joint publications as well as research projects and programs. We also aim to engage in dialogue and cooperation with relevant research environments and scholars internationally, and to disseminate our research findings in other media platforms. NORFAS is coordinated by a steering committee consisting of scholars based in the Nordic countries.

The steering committee is headed by Oula Silvennoinen and Nicola Karcher, with Lars M. Andersson, Sofie Lene Bak and Claus Bundgård Christensen as members.