Identity Troubles: Nationalism, Jihadism and the Far Right

Module code: SY3099

In this module, we explore theses ‘troubling’ identities – historical (ultra)nationalism, the contemporary extreme right and jihadism – and investigate how they have been theorised and understood as part of long-term social processes. We examine the relationship between such identities and violence, including the Holocaust, Salafi-jihadist violence and that of the present-day extreme right. In each case, such identities offer promises of belonging, security and certainty by integrating groups around shared beliefs, symbols and practices. For example, the National Socialist project of the so-called Third Reich, ultra-nationalist movements of the contemporary extreme right, or Salafi-jihadist groups like ISIS and Al Qaeda.