Gendered place identities and politics of belonging: An ethnographic study of the success and the boundaries of ethnonationalist expansion in three Swedish regions

Scholarship has shown that there are significant regional variations in the political support for radical right parties in Europe and Sweden, and there is diversity in the regional responses against ethnonationalist agendas and worldviews.

The study explores, inspired by the tradition of institutional ethnography, an often-overlooked research question: how do place identities facilitate or constrain the growth of ethnonationalism, and what is the relationship between gendered place identities, politics of belonging and diverse forms of solidarities.

The project aims to understand the role of place identity, gendered solidarities and the local and regional histories of belonging as sites for the establishment and success of ethnonationalist worldviews; but also for the resistance, contestation and creation of cultures of inclusive forms of solidarities.

In addition, the project aims to analyze whether and how gendered place identities carry a structural selectivity, shaping worldviews and solidarities around boundaries and exclusionary forms of solidarity, and/or inclusive forms of living together (conviviality) where belonging is defined through human bonds not assumptions about fixed and essentialist national and ethnic belonging.

At each municipal site, using interviews, observations and document analysis, the study explores the place identity of belonging in relation to the following three actors: 1) the Sweden Democrats, 2) established parties and 3) civil society actors.