NSF Award
2329619
The widespread recognition of the human role in environmental change inspires political action of all kinds, including extremist movements. This project considers environmental extremists who propose that revolutionary action will ease environmental pressures. While serious investigations of extremism to date have much to teach about these groups’ means, scholars know less about the utopic visions that fuel their resolve and growth. The stakes of this omission are high: both scholarly and policy efforts to address extremism will be hamstrung without a grasp on these groups’ driving aspirations. This study works toward such an understanding. It also builds capacity among qualitative social scientists to continue this research, by supporting students’ training in methods of scientific collection and analysis. Scientific results will be communicated to the public, as well as policy stakeholders interested in the drivers and development of environmental extremism.<br/><br/>This early concept grant for exploratory research (EAGER) project involves extensive work among extremist environmental groups online. Such research is valuable in its own right, given the vital role of online organizing for extremist groups, but is also a crucial step toward securing the in-person access needed to conduct emplaced fieldwork among the same. Through archival research, media analysis, online observation, and interviews with extremist actors, researchers ask: What kinds of environmental futures do these groups seek and what are their historic precedents? Do these desired futures motivate action in the present and, if so, what kinds of action? And what role, if any, do extremists hold for violence in the path toward these futures’ realization? Methods include text analysis of online archival resources; passive online observation and discourse analysis; online participant observation and interviews; and a pilot in-person study to test the feasibility of a larger study. Findings will contribute to a more capacious understanding of environmental activism, while also providing insight into the affirmative visions that lend extremism its weight.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
