| dc.description.abstract | This study analyses the connections between masculinity and violent extremism. It is based on the foreign fighter phenomenon in Kosovo , where an in-depth analysis of masculinity thus far has been lacking. The purpose of this study has been to understand how the warfare-masculinity nexus is constructed in the Albanian radical Islamist milieu. The analytical framework of this study is largely based on social constructionist thought, particularly Judith Butler’s theory of gender as performance: gender is the stylised repletion of acts, rather than a biological fact. I base my analysis on texts collected during my fieldworks in Kosovo. After analysing these texts in depth through Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory, I find that Albanian Islamist milieu constructs the masculinity-warfare nexus in three ways: 1) by redefining the Kosovo war as a religious rather than ethnic war, 2) by constructing Syria as Ash-Sham, the sacred homeland of Muslims in need of the aid and protection of Muslim men, and 3) through constructing emotional and even spiritual bonds to warfare for the sake of God. I argue that to understand the foreign fighter phenomenon, we must also understand how Syria is constructed. In the words of my most central text, Syria is understood as “the place of Muslim warriors” and “the place of Muslim men”. Based on this, we can argue that Islamist masculinity discourse not only constructs protagonist subject positions which are based on masculine ideals, but that these subject positions are constructed to only be occupied by men. Lastly, I argue that not only is masculinity and extremism connected, but that the foreign fighter phenomenon should be seen as an Islamist performance of masculinity. Basing my analysis on Islamists texts, but also my deep cultural knowledge of the context as an ethnic Albanian Muslim from Kosovo, I conclude that understanding masculinity is central in understanding the recruiting of Kosovar foreign fighters. By highlighting the linkage between masculinity and radicalisation, I also identify that gender must play a central role in the rehabilitation of returned foreign fighters. Future research must not only continue to study how masculinity is constructed, it must also study how masculinity is performed. | eng |