The Normalization of Far-Right Narratives in Scandinavia: Humorous Ambiguity and Everyday Anti-Muslim Racism

This article critically examines anti-Muslim racism and white-hetero-male supremacy in Scandinavian far-right narratives. Using humour as an analytical framework, the article investigates how “humorous ambiguity” obfuscates racist discourses, rendering them permissible. The article explores far-right narratives in online visual cultures, such as memes and satirical cartoons, disseminated on Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish websites. The analysis reveals that these visual cultures, while often presented as humorous or satirical, reinforce exclusionary notions of Scandinavian identity that are predicated on whiteness, heterosexuality, and masculinity, positioning Muslims and other minorities as threats to the white population, the welfare state, and the heteronormative nuclear family. Employing an intersectional approach, the article highlights how racism in these contexts is deeply intertwined with misogyny and homophobia, and how humour functions as a discursive tool to normalize extremist ideologies. The article discusses how the use of humour and online visual cultures on these websites contributes to a normalization of far-right narratives and “everyday anti-Muslim racism”.