‘The fire rises’: identity, the alt-right and intersectionality (original) (raw)

Abstract

This article examines the ideology of the 'alt-right, ' specifically in its relation to the importance of identity. Placing the alt-right within the context of the rising importance of identity within American society, the article discusses the alt-right as overlapping in significant ways with the identitarian elements within the American Left. Investigating the manner in which national/racial identity plays a central role in altright thinking and using the notion of 'category-based epistemology' for guidance, this article argues that the alt-right-rather than a quirk of the 2016 electoral cycle-is likely to increase in its importance as a 'rightist' form of intersectionality. Who you are elucidates who you hate. As identity becomes more central in political confrontations, the importance (and danger) of in-group/out-group dynamics increases. In various parts of the Western world-be it in the nationalist rhetoric of Donald Trump's presidential campaign and its supporters, the nationalist rhetoric of many 'Brexit' supporters within the United Kingdom, or the electoral fortunes of the Freedom Party in Austria's 2016 presidential election-the saliency of national identity (at times with an ethnic/racial undercurrent) has increased in recent years. But unlike much of the nationalist rhetoric of earlier periods (particularly between 1922 and 1945), this current form of nationalist identity is separatist rather than imperial. In the American context, the 'alt-right' best represents this identity-focused movement on the Right. This movement is less an outlier, however, when seen in the context of the broader identity focus in the West: in effect, the ideational structure of movements like the alt-right becomes much clearer once one sees it in comparison with the importance of identity for the progressive Left, exemplified by the notion of intersectionality. This article will present the alt-right as engaged with identity politics in the United States as it has developed in recent decades. In particular, this article places the alt-right as a continuation of identitarianism that saw its initial growth in progressive politics. The discussion will be in three parts. The first section examines the similarities and overlaps between the alt-right and what can be called the 'intersectional Left, ' presenting them as two subtypes of 'category-based epistemology. ' The second section explicates the role of identity within the alt-right, especially as it differs from some earlier political forms of racial/national

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