The Myth of the Viking: An online ethnography of a collective narrative amongst Scandinavian white supremacist men

Sammanfattning: This thesis investigates the construction of collectiveness amongst Scandinavian white supremacist men. The research questions for the study set out to answer how their collective narrative is constructed, and how they use narrative to communicate their social problems in contemporary society. Previous research on cultural trauma, victim narratives, anti semitism, and masculinity show that there is still much to be learned about the narratives constructed and adopted by white supremacist men. The research questions will be answered with the use of theories and concepts such as narrative criminology, cultural trauma, collective identity, and masculinity. Through the use of online ethnography, I gather and analyse data from the two online forums Flashback.org and Stormfront.org, and come to the conclusion that white supremacist men construct their collective narrative based on their understanding of white culture as superior. That narrative is then used to communicate their contemporary social problems and subsequent re-narration of their ruptured collective identity which has been threatened and ruptured by a set of antagonists. This is also communicated as Scandinavian white supremacist men’s cultural trauma. The findings of my thesis generally agree with the previous research, however, it also allows for further research on the subject of collective identities and their experiences of cultural trauma.