The Chosen Few A comparative study of The Prophet’s Ummah and The Nordic Resistance Movement’s language and visual communication.

Abstract

This study explores the applicability of a combination of social movement theory, narrative criminology and subcultural perspectives to the extremist organisations The Prophet’s Ummah and The Nordic Resistance Movement. These groups differ from the mainstream Scandinavian society in how they both support, and even encourage, violence as a legitimate political means. The aim is to explore how their world view and the stories they tell are reflected through subcultural traits, and how their appearance and ideologies are intertwined and reliant on each other in order to constitute a defined group identity. We aim to identify, analyse and compare each group’s political or religious beliefs. Further, we will discuss how these are reflected through subcultural style, and how the combination of linguistics and subcultural traits communicates their world view. Lastly, we wish to establish the importance of studying extremist propaganda through a combination of different theoretical approaches. The study is divided into three parts; the first analysing each group’s beliefs through collective action frames and exploring the master narratives applied in their propaganda. The second, examining the underlying meaning of the subcultural traits and the significance of how the subcultural homology also communicate transhistorical tales. The third part is a discussion of the four master narratives The Prophet’s Ummah and The Nordic Resistance Movement have in common, and how these narratives could be applied to other extremist groups as well. These are; partaking in a war against a foreign invasion, fighting against a twofold enemy, being the chosen few soldiers saving their people, as well as their ultimate goal of establishing a new utopian state. Through a comparative analysis we highlight how – even though the content of the tales differs – both the narrative framework and the communicated message are still strikingly similar, suggesting that these particular stories might have a broader appeal than the extremist consensus in which they exist. In spite of how both The Prophet’s Ummah and The x Nordic Resistance Movement arguably have a marginal reach within the mainstream, their affiliation with international extremist environments could indicate that these stories also resonate with a broader transnational milieu. We would argue that these particular stories reveal elements of the sublime underlying doxa of extremist world views and provide insight into the hegemonic consensus within each subcultural sphere.