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Article published In:
Journal of Language and Politics
Vol. 17:4 (2018) ► pp.552–572

Aliud pro alio

Context and narratives within a neo-Nazi community of practice

ORCID logo | University of East Anglia
| Center for Research on Extremism (C-REX), University of Oslo, Norway

This article explores how narratives create connections between the micro-context and the macro-context, focusing on the narratives produced by a neo-Nazi group within ‘Blood and Honour’, a neo-Nazi gathering in Italy. The analysis presents a series of thematic narratives that describe how the neo-Nazi members see themselves in daily life, with their private and family sphere and how they aim to impact the political and cultural world. From these narratives, it is possible to understand how the neo-Nazi group sees society and justify the marginal role that they occupy in modern society. From this perspective, narratives operate as symbolic practice of identity creation in which members of the group negotiate new images of themselves and of their political and cultural movement. As we show, the neo-Nazi members aim to obtain legitimation and recognition in order to express a greater symbolic and social power.

Keywords: narrative, context, neo-Nazi, ideology, community of practice
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Data and subjects
  • 3.Narratives and micro-context
    • 3.1Being a neo-Nazi in daily life
      • The topic of the narrative
      • Activity within the event
      • The identity of the participants
    • 3.2Neo-Nazi and private/family relationships
      • The topic of the narrative
      • Activity within the event
      • The identity of the participants
    • 3.3The role and the position of the neo-Nazi in cultural and political world
      • The topic of the narrative
      • Activity within the event
      • The identity of participants
  • 4.Narratives and macro-context
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 9 January 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.17014.pop
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