15.07.2026
The far right, the environment and literary fiction: An exploration 15.07.26
Speaker: Dr. Bernhard Forchtner (University of Leicester). A lecture as part of the Institute Colloquium of the Institute of Political Science (IfP) at the University of Tübingen in cooperation with Léonie de Jonge, IRex Working Group on Political Actors & Ideologies.
Wednesday, July 15, 2026, 16:00 (c.t.)
Room 124, Institut für Politikwissenschaft, or online via Zoom
About the lecture:
This presentation examines how contemporary far-right actors engage with the natural environment as they advance their agenda, focusing particularly on imaginations of ‘ideal’ (or not) far-right environments in far-right fiction. Setting the scene by introducing the expanding field of research on far-right communication about the environment (scholarship that has typically analysed party materials and the broader far-right media ecosystems), the presentation ultimately turns to literary fiction.
The presentation draws on contemporary novels, novellas and short stories to make two main points: first, it contends that fiction should be taken seriously in the study of the far right - due to its seductive capacities grounded in, e.g., processes of identification, the articulation of hope (and other affects/emotions), and narrative worldbuilding at large. Second, by analysing individual ‘affective landscapes’ and broader far-right ‘landscapes of affect’ in and through such materials, it demonstrates the significance of ‘the environment’ for the far right.
Bernhard Forchtner is associate professor in the School of Arts, Media, and Communication at the University of Leicester (UK). His research focuses on the far right’s communication about the environment and the fictional works produced by the far right. Recent, book-length publications include the edited volume Visualising Far-Right Environments. Communication and the Politics of Nature (Manchester University Press) and the monograph Imagining Alternative Worlds. Far-Right Fiction and the Power of Cultural Imaginaries (with C. Kølvraa, Routledge). He is the co-editor of The Bloomsbury Handbook of Far-Right Fiction, which is scheduled for publication in 2027 (with M. Feldman, Bloomsbury).
The lecture will be held in English.
Zoom: zoom.us/j/93089750663
Meeting ID: 930 8975 0663 / Passcode: 142311
IfP address:
Melanchthonstr. 36 / 72074 Tübingen
Teilen
