New Books Network

Agnieszka Pasieka, "Living Right: Far-Right Youth Activists in Contemporary Europe" (Princeton UP, 2024)

Apr 17, 2025

Agnieszka Pasieka, an anthropology assistant professor at the University of Montreal, discusses her book on far-right youth activism in Europe. She shares her compelling fieldwork experiences with militants in Italy, Poland, and Hungary. The conversation highlights the promise of purpose and camaraderie these movements offer young activists. Pasieka also delves into the complexities of gender roles and the intertwining of local and transnational influences. Her insights shed light on the moral frameworks guiding far-right ideologies and the necessity of ethnographic understanding.

46:29

Episode guests

Agnieszka Pasieka

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

The rise of far-right youth activism in Europe reveals complex motivations driven by a quest for community and moral purpose.

Gender dynamics within far-right movements show a paradox where traditional roles coexist with increased participation of women in activism.

Deep dives

The Intersection of Ethnography and Far-Right Activism

The research emphasizes the compelling need to study far-right movements as a vital aspect of understanding social dynamics. Engaging with these groups provides insight into their motivations, collective actions, and the underlying factors driving their ideological commitments. By focusing on grassroots movements rather than political parties, the research reveals how these activists perceive themselves and how they seek to mobilize against perceived inequalities. It recognizes that understanding this landscape is crucial, especially in light of global socio-political changes and movements such as the refugee crisis.

Intro

2min

Exploring Far-Right Youth Activism

10min

Exploring Transnational Activism Among Far-Right Youth

5min

The Dynamics of Far-Right Nationalist Movements in Europe

13min

Navigating Gender Roles in Far-Right Activism

3min

Bridging Divides: The Role of Ethnography in Understanding Far-Right Activism

7min

Exploring Welfare and Far-Right Narratives: Ongoing Collaborative Projects

4min

Radical nationalism is on the rise in Europe and throughout the world. Living Right: Far-Right Youth Activists in Contemporary Europe (Princeton University Press, 2024) provides an in-depth account of the ideas and practices that are driving the varied forms of far-right activism by young people from all walks of life, revealing how these social movements offer the promise of comradery, purpose, and a moral calling to self-sacrifice, and demonstrating how far-right ideas are understood and lived in ways that speak to a variety of experiences.

In this eye-opening book, Agnieszka Pasieka draws on her own sometimes harrowing fieldwork among Italian, Polish, and Hungarian militant youths, painting unforgettable portraits of students, laborers, entrepreneurs, musicians, and activists from well-off middle class backgrounds who have all found a nurturing home in the far right. Providing an in-depth account of radical nationalist communities and networks that are taking root across Europe, she shows how the simultaneous orientation of these groups toward the local and the transnational is a key to their success. With a focus on far-right morality that challenges commonly held ideas about the right, Pasieka describes how far-right movements afford opportunities to the young to be active members of tightly bonded comradeships while sharing in a broader project with global ramifications.

Required reading for anthropologists and anyone concerned about the resurgence of far-right militancy today, Living Right sheds necessary light on the forces that have made the growing appeal of fascist idealism for young people one of the most alarming trends of our time.

Agnieszka Pasieka is assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Montreal.

* This episode is part of a special collaboration between the New Books Network and the Society for the Anthropology of Europe, a section of the American Anthropological Association. Together, we’re highlighting exciting new work in Europeanist anthropology—featuring authors from across the field, including winners of the William A. Douglass Book Prize and contributors to the European Anthropology in Translation series published by Berghahn Books.

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