Book Discussion: Living Right: Far-Right Youth Activists in Contemporary Europe, by Agnieszka Pasieka

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Brief Description

Living Right. Far-right Youth Activists in Contemporary Europe is an in-depth study of the ideas and practices that drive the varied forms of far-right activism which have become prominent in recent years, both locally and transnationally. Drawing on a long-term ethnographic fieldwork with Italian, Polish and Hungarian militants, the book analyzes contemporary manifestations of fascism, shedding light on the forces that have made the “return of fascism” a key scholarly preoccupation and public predicament. Put differently, the book demonstrates the seductive power of fascist ideas.

Focusing on far-right communities, comradeships and networks that have been established across Europe, Living right highlights that what has taken to be a paradox—that is, the contemporary far-right’s simultaneous orientation towards the local and the transnational— is actually a factor behind the recent surge in the far right. The book demonstrates that the way the far-right movements operate affords young people an opportunity to be active and to be members of a community at different levels. While their activities are based locally, they are cast as being part of a broader transnational project with global ramifications and impact. And while they act as members of tight, bonded comradeships, they do so for the sake of broader (national, Christian, European) communities. In exploring these questions, the book foregrounds the importance of a focus on far-right morality and it problematizes the way we tend to conceive of the relationship between extremist ideas and practices and those of the broader society

Sub Unit

• Anthropology, Cultural Studies

Chair

• Genevieve Zubrzycki, U of Michigan

Roundtable Members

• Pamela Lynn Ballinger, U of Michigan

• Carna Brkovic, U of Mainz (Germany)

• Jan Kubik, Rutgers, The State U of New Jersey / U College London (UK)

• Agnieszka Pasieka, Yale U