The Psychosocial Imaginaries of Defence Nationalism

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

   PDF

2. Scenes of Violence

   • Liam Gillespie

   Pages 1-40

3. Ironic Indigeneity

   • Liam Gillespie

   Pages 41-77

4. The Laws of Inclusion and Exclusion

   • Liam Gillespie

   Pages 79-104

5. In hoc signo vinces [In This Sign You Will Conquer]

   • Liam Gillespie

   Pages 105-141

6. The Body as Real—Nostalgia Without Memory

   • Liam Gillespie

   Pages 143-173

7. Violent (Con)Fusions of the Body

   • Liam Gillespie

   Pages 175-197

8. Imagined Immunity

   • Liam Gillespie

   Pages 199-226

9. Sovereign Bodies Unto Themselves

   • Liam Gillespie

   Pages 227-236

10. Back Matter

    Pages 237-259

    PDF

The Psychosocial Imaginaries of Defence Nationalism interrogates the emergence of far-right nationalist 'defence leagues' in Australia and the UK. Throughout the book, Liam Gillespie refers to these groups as defence nationalists: that is, as nationalists who imagine themselves as defenders of the nation and therefore national subjects par excellence. 


Drawing on original research, psychoanalytic and psychosocial theory—and particularly the work of Jacques Lacan—the author explores the narratives, imaginaries and subjectivities that sustain these groups, as well as the narratives, imaginaries and subjectivities these groups sustain. He argues that unlike other nationalist groups, defence nationalists are not primarily concerned with realising their avowed political projects. Instead, they are concerned with constructing and then enjoying themselves as the nation's self-ordained defenders. This means that which threatens the nation can paradoxically have a fortifying effect upon defence nationalists, legitimising and securing both the way they see themselves, and the position they see themselves occupying with/in the nation.


The Psychosocial Imaginaries of Defence Nationalism will be of interest to anyone concerned with critical theorisations of contemporary nationalism, as well as with the application of psychoanalytic and psychosocial theory to social, cultural and political analysis.

• psychosocial studies
• psychoanalytic theory
• far-right nationalism
• ultranationalism
• ethnic nationalism
• psychoanalytic theory
• Extremism
• English Defence League (EDL)
• Australian Defence League
• South East Alliance (SEA)
• United Patriots Front
• Reclaim Australia
• racism
• Islamophobia
• critical legal studies
• populism
• Lacan
• Cronulla Riots
• Lacan
• criminology

​“This book is an innovative, eloquent and sometimes disturbing psychoanalytic examination of why and how violence is done in the name of the nation. Gillespie has put together layers of Lacanian insight to understand what it is that makes the defence nationalist want to defend the nation, to understand what is the defence nationalist’s imagination of a nation, and, of relevance to us all, what part of the nation inhabits us all. This is a must read for those wishing to understand psychologies of violence as they pertain to nationalists or people often called ‘extremists’. It is a foundational text to advance an understanding and provoke an appreciation of how a mandate for violence is gleaned from the most ordinary layers of politics, law and history, integrated into the psyches of those who perceive themselves as both integral and marginal to the state.” (Juliet B. Rogers, Associate Professor Criminology, University of Melbourne, Australia)

• University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

  Liam Gillespie

Liam Gillespie holds a Ph.D. from the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne, Australia.

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