‘The monster at the border: Islamophobia, gender and nationalism in Central and Eastern Europe’ by Dr. Kasia Narkowicz

/ Event, Sociological Research Colloquium

Dr Kasia Narkowicz (Sociology Department, University of York, UK) presented her research entitled ‘The monster at the border: Islamophobia, gender and nationalism in Central and Eastern Europe’ at the Sociological Research Colloquium.

When: Friday, 13th April 2018 at 3:00 p.m.

Where: Seminar Room (First Floor), Department of Sociology, University of Delhi 

Abstract

This talk will focus on the recent rise of right-wing nationalism in Central and Eastern Europe, articulated in response to the Muslim Other hovering at the borders of Europe. It will focus on Poland specifically and discuss the victory of the populist Law and Justice party in 2015, which was in part credited to the right’s ability to capture the nations fear of the Muslim Other. In the public imagination, the terrorist at the border – disguised as a refugee – poses a threat to the respectability of Polish women, to Catholicism and to security. Despite the fact that the vast majority of refugees in the 2015 ‘refugee crisis’ used Central and Eastern Europe as a gateway to Western Europe rather than a final destination, right-wing populists in the region used this moment to garner support for an increasingly nationalistic political agenda. This talk will map out these events and pose questions about the ways in which Islamophobic, racist, gendered and nationalist discourses have converged in Central and Eastern Europe in opposition to Muslims.

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