Overview

The Politics of Replacement explores current demographic conspiracy theories and their entanglement with different forms of racism and exclusionary politics such as sexism. The book focuses on population replacement conspiracy theories, that is, those imaginaries and discourses centered on the idea that the national population is under threat of being overtaken or even wiped out by those considered as “alien” to the nation and that this is the result of concerted efforts by “elites”. Replacement conspiracy theories are on the rise again: from Eurabia fantasies to Renaud Camus’ The Great Replacement, white supremacist discourses are thriving and increasingly broadcasting in mainstream venues. To account for their rise and spread, this edited volume brings together research on various dimensions of population replacement conspiracy theories: different theoretical and methodological approaches, different social scientific and humanities (inter)disciplinary backgrounds, different geographical case studies (across Europe, North America, Southeast Asia, and Oceania), different time periods (medieval archives, colonial archives, Nazi archives, postcolonial migrations, post-9/11), and different forms of racialization and racisms (Islamophobia, antisemitism, racism against migrants and refugees). It also explores the entanglement of population replacement discourse with gendered violence. The book is organized into four sections: (1) exploring the historical background of the current rise of demographic conspiracy theories; (2) tracing the (neoliberal) governmentalities in and through which replacement discourse operates; (3) analyzing the particularly intense focus on the threat of Muslims in contemporary replacement conspiracy theories, and (4) investigating the connection between replacement conspiracies, gender, and violence. This title is essential reading for scholars, journalists, and activists interested in the contemporary far right, conspiracy theories, and racisms.

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9781032306193

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Reviews

'Nativism is the core ideological feature of the far right and is primarily expressed through replacement conspiracy theories. The Political of Replacement shows the mainstreaming and normalization of these deadly conspiracy theories in culture and politics as well as their deadly consequences around the world. Essential reading to understand the far-right threat to democracy!' Cas Mudde, University of Georgia, USA; author of The Far Right Today 'In a “post-truth” society, disinformation campaigns, bigoted propaganda, and conspiracy theories circulate with impunity on social media platforms and within increasingly porous far-right echo chambers. The Politics of Replacement provides a timely and incisive cartography of demographic replacement theories and how they have gained traction and spread racist, xenophobic, and Islamophobic ideologies transnationally. The book powerfully examines right-wing populist imaginaries that promote demographic fears, white nationalism, and anti-Muslim racism that create moral panics and shore up xenophobic state policies. The authors offer unique interdisciplinary vistas to unpack the various ways population replacement theories travel and mutate beyond their traditional discursive and geographic borders. These are not purely theoretical issues, rather they speak urgently to the need to understand and debunk the narratives that inspire xenophobic nationalism, Islamophobia, and racial violence across the globe. This book is a must read, alerting us to the discursive underpinnings of replacement theories and their historical, bio- political, gendered, religious, and racial formations as variegated transnational projects. Few books have managed to address the complexities of these issues with such intellectual skill, rigour, and compelling insight.' Jasmin Zine, Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada; author of Under Siege: Islamophobia and the 9/11 Generation and The Canadian Islamophobia Industry: Mapping Islamophobia’s Ecosystem in the Great White North

Author Information

Sarah Bracke is Professor of Sociology of Gender and Sexuality at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. She is the principal investigator of the research project EnGendering Europe’s “Muslim Question”, funded by the Dutch Research Council. Luis Manuel Hernández Aguilar is an associate researcher at the European University Viadrina, Frankfurt Oder, Germany. He holds a PhD in sociology by the Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main. His research interests focus on racism, Islamophobia and antisemitism, conspiracy theories, and the far right.

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