Skip to main content

“A Counterforce Against Hate”: A Discursive Analysis of Affective Practices in Mobilization Against the Radical Right in a Context of White Innocence

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Far-Right Discourse of Multiculturalism in Intergroup Interactions

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Discursive Psychology ((PSDP))

Abstract

The chapter develops an analysis of affective practice in the context of antiracist mobilization against the radical right’s racism. More precisely, the chapter focuses on formative discussions by supporters of Silakkaliike (Baltic herring movement), an antiracist online mobilization against the radical right, which gained significant support after its founding in early 2020. The analysis draws on observations made in critical theorization of race, racism and antiracism—namely a tendency to focus on extremist forms of racism and relative silence on racialized reality—and combines these with discursive psychological notion of affective practice. The chapter argues that the analysed antiracism is mediated by affective practices refraining from hate and other emotions, disgust and hope.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Ahmed, S. (2004). The cultural politics of emotion. Reprinted. Edinburgh University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ahmed, S. (2010). The promise of happiness. Duke University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ahmed, S. (2012). On being included racism and diversity in institutional life. Duke University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Augoustinos, M., Hastie, B., & Callaghan, P. (2018). Apologising for past wrongs. Emotion, affective practices, and the past in the present.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonilla-Silva, E. (2018). Racism without racists: Color-blind racism and the persistence of racial inequality in America (5th ed.). Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Dijk, T. A. (1992). Discourse and the denial of racism. Discourse & Society., 3(1), 87–118.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fella, S., & Ruzza, C. (Eds.). (2013). Anti-racist movements in the EU: Between Europeanisation and national trajectories. Houndmills, Basingstroke, Hampshire; New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilroy, P. (1990). The end of anti-racism. In Race and local politics (pp. 191–209). Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg, D. T. (2009). The threat of race: Reflections on racial neoliberalism. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg, D. T. (2015). Are we all postracial yet? Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gunaratnam, Y., & Lewis, G. (2001). Racialising emotional labour and emotionalising racialised labour: Anger, fear and shame in social welfare. Journal of Social Work Practice, 15(2), 131–148.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haavisto, C. (2018). The power of being heard: How claims against racism are constructed, spread, and listened to in a hybrid media environment. In P. Hervik (Ed.). Racialisation, racism, and anti-racism in the Nordic countries, approaches to social inequality and difference (pp. 62–229). Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haavisto, C. (2020). “Impossible” activism and the right to be understood: The emergent refugee rights movement in Finland. In Nostalgia and hope: Intersections between politics of culture, welfare, and migration in Europe (pp. 169–184). Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hatakka, N. (2020). Expose, debunk, ridicule, resist! Networked civic monitoring of populist radical right online action in Finland. Information, Communication & Society, 23(9), 1311–1326.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Horsti, K. (2015). Techno-cultural opportunities: The anti-immigration movement in the Finnish mediascape. Patterns of Prejudice, 49(4), 343–366.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keskinen, S. (2013). Antifeminism and White identity politics: Political antagonisms in radical right-wing populist and anti-immigration rhetoric in Finland. Nordic Journal of Migration Research, 3(4), 225–232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lentin, A. (2016). Racism in public or public racism: Doing anti-racism in ‘post-racial’ times. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 39(1), 33–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lorde, A. (1984). Eye to eye: Black women, hatred, and anger. Sister Outsider.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mäkinen, K. (2016). Uneasy laughter: Encountering the anti-immigration debate. Qualitative Research, 16(5), 541–556.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mäkinen, K. (2017). Struggles of citizenship and class: Anti-immigration activism in Finland. The Sociological Review, 65(2), 218–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nikunen, K. (2018). From irony to solidarity: Affective practice and social media activism. Studies of Transition States and Societies, 10(2).

    Google Scholar 

  • Pitcher, B. (2009). The politics of multiculturalism: Race and racism in contemporary Britain. Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Polletta, F. (2009). It was like a fever: Storytelling in protest and politics. University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Potter, J. (1996). Representing reality. Discourse, rhetoric and social construction. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Potter, J., & Wetherell, M. (1987). Discourse and social psychology: Beyond attitudes and behaviour. Sage Publications, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Probyn, E. (2000). Carnal Appetites: Foodsexidentities. Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pyrhönen, N. (2015). The true colors of Finnish welfare nationalism: Consolidation of neo-populist advocacy as a resonant collective identity through mobilization of exclusionary narratives of blue-and-white solidarity. University of Helsinki.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rastas, A., & Seye, E. (2019). Music and anti-racism: Musicians’ involvement in anti-racist spaces. Popular Music and Society, 42(5), 592–610.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sakki, I., & Pettersson, K. (2016). Discursive constructions of otherness in populist radical right political blogs. European Journal of Social Psychology, 46(2), 156–170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sakki, I., & Pettersson, K. (2018). Managing stake and accountability in Prime Ministers’ accounts of the “refugee crisis”: A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 28(6), 406–429.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seikkula, M. (2019a). Adapting to post-racialism? Definitions of racism in non-governmental organization advocacy that mainstreams anti-racism. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 22(1), 95–109.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seikkula, M. (2019b). (Un) making ‘extreme’and ‘ordinary’ whiteness: Activists’ narratives on antiracist mobilisation in Finland. The Sociological Review, 67(5), 1002–1017.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spelman, E. V. (1998). Fruits of sorrow: Framing our attention to suffering. Beacon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sugiura, L., Wiles, R., & Pope, C. (2017). Ethical challenges in online research: Public/private perceptions. Research Ethics, 13(3–4), 184–199.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tuori, S. (2009). The politics of multicultural encounters: Feminist postcolonial perspectives. Åbo: Åbo Akademi University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wekker, G. (2016). White innocence: Paradoxes of colonialism and race. Duke University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Wetherell, M. (2012). Affect and emotion: A new social science understanding. Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wetherell, M. (2013). Affect and discourse—What’s the problem? From affect as excess to affective/discursive practice. Subjectivity, 6(4), 349–368.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wetherell, M., & Potter, J. (1992). Mapping the language of racism discourse and the legitimation of exploitation. Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wetherell, M., Smith , L., & Campbell, G. (2018). Introduction: Affective heritage practices. In L. Smith, M. Wetherell, & G. Campbell (Eds.), Emotion, affective practices, and the past in the present. Oxon and New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ylä-Anttila, T., Bauvois, G., & Pyrhönen, N. (2019). Politicization of migration in the countermedia style: A computational and qualitative analysis of populist discourse.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Minna Seikkula .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Seikkula, M. (2022). “A Counterforce Against Hate”: A Discursive Analysis of Affective Practices in Mobilization Against the Radical Right in a Context of White Innocence. In: Pettersson, K., Nortio, E. (eds) The Far-Right Discourse of Multiculturalism in Intergroup Interactions. Palgrave Studies in Discursive Psychology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-89066-7_9

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics