The University of Connecticut’s Humanities Institute held a fellows talk on Wednesday featuring Dr. Tracy Llanera, an assistant professor of philosophy, along with a response by Dr. Jordan Camp, an associate professor of American Studies at Trinity College. Llanera’s presentation was titled: “The Misfits of Extremism: Brides, Moms, and Daughters.”
As an introduction to her presentation, Llanera started by quoting the premise of her book. “This book interrogates the role, value, and agency of marginal actors in white supremacist and Islamic terror movements,” Llanera stated. “While becoming extremists may temporarily enhance their agency and feelings of importance and belonging, I argue that the empowerment of marginal actors is conditional, pernicious and often lethal.” The actors that Llanera studies are women involved in these extremist hate groups. Their ethnicities and nationalities vary.
Usually, women are not typically associated with terrorism and hate groups, Llanera mentioned. The groups that she focuses on are connected through patriarchal ideals and the use of violence. Yet there are a number of cases where these patriarchal causes will employ women to pursue their agendas, even though their group philosophy assigns women to the domestic sphere of life. “Any nuanced understanding must account for gender dynamics and patriarchal ideals,” Llanera said.
She highlighted three enabling conditions that indoctrinate women into these causes: Their agency becomes inspired by the narratives of these groups, these groups license women into defying gender norms to have effective political actions and the women are praised for their actions.
The narratives that these groups create are based on ressentiment. Llanera mentioned that this is a collective form of resentment coupled with a “self-reinforcing, self-perpetuating narrative.” What makes these narratives so effective is that they have six aspects tied to them. They provide goals, clear the group of any wrongdoing or guilt, fixate on a rejected group, are all-encompassing, present individuals as weak alone but strongly united and offer compensation to their members. These narratives often are “a response to a crisis,” Llanera said.
This book interrogates the role, value, and agency of marginal actors in white supremacist and Islamic terror movements. While becoming extremists may temporarily enhance their agency and feelings of importance and belonging, I argue that the empowerment of marginal actors is conditional, pernicious and often lethal.
Tracy Llanera
What is interesting about these extremist narratives and patriarchal ideals is that they clash. “The forces of extremism and the patriarchy are generally in friction with each other,” Llanera commented. Extremism often invokes action on the part of all members, while patriarchy sets up a hierarchical system where women are relegated to their homes, not in public life. To explain why the two concepts work in reality, Llanera posits that “patriarchal extremist groups license women to defy gender norms for expedient political action.” To pursue their goals and commit acts of violence, these groups will encourage their women to get involved and help because of their reputation as women. From this, Llanera brings up three major archetypes for these women: the goddess/victim, the wife/mother and the female activist. The first two are centered around the general gender norms assigned to women. It emphasizes their inability to protect themselves and need help, paired with their roles as nurturers and caregivers. The last archetype is different in that it puts women in a position of power, somewhat. The female activists are the type of women in these groups who become martyrs by sacrificing themselves or casting aside their gender norms for the group’s agenda.
Two real-life examples that Llanera mentions are the white-power Barbie and the trad wife. The former refers to how white women use their reputations as white, upper-middle-class women to push their extremist views onto others, usually through social media. The trad wife is an online trend where white women will display how they fulfill their roles as “traditional wives” and please their husbands and families.
The next aspect that Llanera touches upon is the carrots for extremist women, or how they are compensated for their work. This varies but she splits it into two main categories; being celebrated as a hero or martyr and compensation through money and social reputation. An example of a martyr is Wafa Idris, the first female suicide bomber in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Yet the other form of compensation usually concerns white women. One who was mentioned by Llanera is Lauren Southern, a Canadian alt-right YouTuber.
Yet the bigger question is: Why are these women involved with these groups? What pushes them to accept these ideologies? Llanera stated that “the restricted agency or impotence of women in ordinary conditions is replaced by the feeling, expression, and enjoyment of power in extraordinary conditions.” This means that because of women’s marginalized identities in normative society, these extremist groups are a way for them to feel like they have a sense of power.
But she warns that these false impressions of power do not last, once these extremist groups fulfill their goals, the women they’ve employed will be relegated back to their ordinary existence. “Extremist groups exploit their devotion,” Llanera warned.