University of Helsinki
University of Helsinki, Centre for Research on Ethnic Relations and Nationalism (CEREN)
Solitary Solidarity? – The Role of Welfare State Emphasizing Narratives in the Articulation of Anti-Immigration Sentiment within the Contemporary Public Debate of the Nordic EU Countries
At the moment, Niko is working on a full-time PhD student’s grant from the Kone Foundation at CEREN where he conducts his multidisciplinary research combining sociological, political science and media studies perspectives. His doctoral thesis focuses on the ways in which anti-immigration narratives are constructed, articulated and justified in the public debate by citizens and media actors in the Nordic EU countries.
His research identifies the various welfare-state justifications commonly presented in conjunction with articulations of anti-immigration sentiment. Niko’s project seeks to illustrate how many of the rhetorical practices within online anti-immigration activism can be seen as a highly mediated form of boundary-work. By uncovering these practices, it becomes visible how political mobilization of new constituencies is attempted via the promotion of solidarity as defined in ethnic terms and a fixed set of acceptable tropes for publicly expressing nationalist belonging.
See also Niko’s homepage.