Researching the far right: positionality, standpoint, and intersectionality

with Imo Kaufman, University of Nottingham, Rae Jereza, Frameworks, and Elsa Bengtsson Meuller, University of London

Time and place: Nov. 21, 2024 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM, Online


This webinar will focus on the themes and issues in Part II of The Ethics of Researching the Far Right: Positionality, standpoint, and intersectionality, most notably on how the positionality and standpoint of researchers can impact not only on the field but on wider society. Challenging some positivist approaches which have placed the researcher above their research, as if social sciences could be conducted in the same manner as hard sciences, the authors presenting here argue that our striving for conducting impartial research must start with a clear engagement with our own positionality but also take into account the wider state of play and norms which may invisibilise certain patterns and structures of oppression, including racism, misogyny, transphobia, homophobia, and ablism, as well as the intersection between them. This is also important to understanding why we need to challenge more recent and progressive interventions which focus on researcher risk, but treat the researcher not as objective and outside the research, but instead as a universal subject and potentially equally vulnerable in the fact of the far right and institutions of power. The contributions will look at and reflect on these issues in relation to the politics of the field, research methods and, crucially, their identities and experiences as researchers.

The webinar will be moderated by Aaron Winter (Lancaster) who also authored the chapter: Reflections on researching armed Nazis as an unarmed left-wing Jew: politics, privilege, and practical concerns.

The panel will include:

Rae Jereza is a Senior Researcher at FrameWorks. They are an anthropologist whose academic research focuses on digital labor, (far) right politics, and discourse on online racism in the U.S. Prior to joining FrameWorks, they taught anthropology and served as Senior Researcher at the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL) and Research Assistant Professor at American University. Jereza received their BA in Sociology and History from Muhlenberg College, MA in Sociology and PhD in Anthropology from Binghamton University (SUNY).

Elsa Bengtsson Meuller is a PhD Candidate at the Department of Politics and International Relations at Goldsmiths, University of London, and lecturer at the University of Southampton. Mueller holds an MSc in Comparative Political Thought and a BA in Politics from SOAS, University of London. Mueller’s research focuses on misogyny, online gender-based violence, and anti-feminist and male supremacist extremism, and explores feminist theory and approaches to the politics of cyberspace. In their doctoral research, Mueller develops a feminist methodology for researching anti-feminist online cultures through the use and theorisation of emotions and affect.

Imo Kaufman is a PhD student at the University of Nottingham. Their project is in collaboration with the National Videogame Museum and explores a lived experience of gaming in the UK, looking at gamer subjectivities, performativity, and ideologies through an oral history lens. Imo’s research interests also include the intersection of the alt-right and gaming spaces.