Anti-Muslim Articulations

Abstract

This paper examines the narratives and practices of gay politicians in the far-right party, “Alternative for Germany” (AfD). Based on ethnographic material from two years of fieldwork (2017–2019), the author argues that these men (and a few women) link their narratives to the “ethnosexist” (Dietze 2019) common sense of the field in order to be integrated in the far-right political imaginary. This, however, is a messy process: The field is traversed by conflicting ideological streams, and while some applaud a far-right gay politics, others remain sceptical. Making use of the Gramscian notion of “common sense”, this paper aims at making sense of the ways in which these ideological streams are entangled and to what extent these actors’ strategies are successful. As it is based on ethnographic data, the paper pays close attention to the lived realities and everyday logics of the rank and file of the AfD. Going beyond the AfD proper, the paper also discusses when and why these politics can appear attractive to gay