Methodological and ethical challenges to studying far-right and anti-gender mobilizations 

Abstract

At present, academic inquiries into far-right and anti-gender mobilization across Europe take place within a broader context of increasing pressures on academic freedom, both from institutional as well as non-institutional actors (de Jonge, Segers & Thorleifsson 2021; Paternotte & Verloo 2021).  The far right today may be conceptualized as a continuum, which spans from populist radical-right parties to extreme-right parties, movements, subcultures, and networks (Norocel, 2023/2024), connected by three key ideological features: “authoritarianism, anti-democracy, and an exclusionary and/or a holistic kind of nationalism” (Carter, 2018: 174). Traditional conceptions about gender roles – conceived of as the immutable man vs. woman dyad – and sexuality – centered on the reproductive heterosexual nuclear family – are key to understanding the ideological imbrications of the far-right continuum. Hence, the widespread and ever-evolving manifestations of far-right ideas and actions present scholars with unique methodological and ethical challenges (Ashe, Busher, Macklin & Winter 2020; Toscano 2019), for example in conducting fieldwork and qualitative interviews in physical spaces (Blee 2017; Damhuis & de Jonge 2022; Pasieka 2017) and with regards to conducting research in the digital context (Carter & Kondor 2020). In recent years, scholars have argued that the concept of ‘gender’ has become “the right’s rallying cry” (Graff & Korolczuk 2021: 16) within the context of growing anxieties around modernity and change that have been weaponized by a range of actors with illiberal aims. Although mobilization against ‘gender ideology’ is regularly associated with the far-right, it may be best characterized by the broader definition of “retrogressive mobilization” (Bouvart, De Proost & Norocel 2019; Norocel & Băluță 2021), which conveys the variety of actors involved in anti-gender mobilization, ranging from mainstream conservative politicians and religious institutions, to far-right parties and movements. Academic inquiry into anti-gender mobilization today is a quickly expanding field (Ayoub & Stoeckl 2023/2024; Bogaards & Pető 2022; Kuhar & Paternotte 2017; Norocel & Paternotte 2023; Verloo, 2018). This notwithstanding, to date there is little explicit focus on the methodological and ethical challenges inherent to the study of anti-gender mobilization. We argue there is a particular need for discussions concerning the impact of researching illiberal forms of mobilization on the researcher themselves, and that go beyond understandings of researchers’ safety as primarily a matter of physical integrity. This panel thus aims to contribute to the expanding literature on methodological and ethical considerations in conducting research on far-right and anti-gender mobilization. We invite contributions that reflect on methodological and ethical challenges in various ways, not just in relation to the research participants or subjects, but also the researchers themselves. In doing so, we aim to further develop conversations about, and give attention to, researchers’ positionality and safety in relation to hostile and illiberal narratives and movements. Moreover, we invite contributions that reflect on various methodological and ethical challenges of researching far-right and anti-gender actors and movements, from digital environments to institutional settings and in the street.  

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