Conspiratorial medievalism
History and hyperagency in the far-right Knights Templar security imaginary
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6353589 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Katharine M Millar (0000-0003-2511-5325), Julia Costa López (0000-0002-1155-4987) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 44 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 588-604 |
| Publication date | 2024-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Politics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0032-3268 • E-ISSN: 1467-9256 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/02633957211010983 |
| OpenAlex | W3167030440 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 10 |
| References cited | 32 |
Imagery associated with the Knights Templar appears in the public discourse and symbolism of many white supremacist and white nationalist groups. The 2011 Norwegian mass murderer cited the Templars in his manifesto, as did the 2019 New Zealand shooter. Templar crosses were on display at the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, North Carolina. To understand the security imaginary behind these racialised medievalisms and their contemporary animation within right-wing extremism, this article develops the concept of ‘conspiratorial medievalism’. The Knights Templar imaginary blends a specific, racialised, and romanticised vision of history with the grammar of conspiracy theory. This is characterised by (a) a belief in the racialised decline and victimisation of a ‘righteous’ White Christendom; (b) a sense of threat posed by racialised Others and betrayal by insiders; and (c) an anachronistic view of near-omnipotent individual agency. Significantly, conspiratorial medievalism demonstrates an aspiration to not merely combat ‘undue’ agency of racialised Others, but to reclaim and perform extreme agency themselves. Agency is cast in the idiom of medieval chivalry and framed as the moral obligation of righteous White men. Although Knights Templar imagery may appear superficial, this article finds it is an important justificatory and enabling discourse for racist violence
Agency (philosophy · Ancient history · Art · Literature · Manifesto · Medievalism · Middle Ages · Photojournalism · Political science · Psychoanalysis · Social science · Sociology · The Imaginary · Visual arts · White (mutation · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control · Gothic Literature and Media Analysis · History · Law · Psychology · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence
Respawning the Hero
Off white
Political ecologies of the far right
The evangelical foreign policy model
Subaltern Counterpublics in Global Politics
The peace/violence nexus
Reframing lone-actor terrorism
Addressing extremist abuses of medieval pasts
Reconquest 2.0
Conspiracy Theories, Quantum Social Science, and the Political Power of Irrelevant Beliefs
Conspiracy & Populism
The Content of the Form
A Lot of People Are Saying
Social Media and the Post-Truth World Order
Defending the West
Radical conservatism and global order
Conspiracy discourse and the Occupy Movement
Globalisation and American common sense
Conspiracy and foreign policy
The Security Imaginary
Conspiracy Theories
Crusader Dreams
Beyond Eurocentrism and Orientalism
Reactionary Internationalism
Behind the Mask of Chivalry
The Securitization of Migration
The European Union and the Securitization of Migration
Rumor Has It
Whiteness
Conspiracy Theories in the Post-Soviet Space
Conspiracy and the Paranoid Style
Unsettling the Coloniality of Being/Power/Truth/Freedom
Confronting the International Political Sociology of the New Right
| Unique citing works | 10 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3,33 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2026 (4) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 10 |