Memes, Metapolitics and accelerationism: an ethnography of postdigital ludic fascism
Far-right movements increasingly use humor, memes, and playful online culture to spread their ideas and build community. But how exactly does this work, and why is it so effective? At CAIS, I will develop a theoretical framework – “ludic fascism” – to explain how play and politics intertwine in digital far-right activism. I examine two key strategies: how memes create a sense of belonging and gradually normalize radical ideas, and how dark humor and apocalyptic fantasy fuel radicalization under the guise of entertainment.To answer these questions, I draw on several years of digital ethnographic fieldwork on platforms like YouTube, Twitch, Discord, and Twitter/X, observing how far-right actors use trolling and meme culture to connect online communities with real-world activism. My goal is to revise a research grant proposal and draft a book proposal that brings together this fieldwork with a broader theory of far-right digital culture.
Main Research Topics
- Far Right
- Anthropology
- Fascism
- Digital Ethnography
- Play
Curriculum Vitae
- 4/2025 – 3/2026 Lecturer, post-doc, Dept. of Social Anthropology and African Studies, JGU Mainz
- 10/2024 – 03/2025 Visiting professorship, Chair of Anthropology of the African Diaspora and Transnationalism, JGU Mainz
- 11/2021 – 09/2024 Principle investigator of the anthropological subproject in the BMBF joint project MISRIK (Memes, Ideas, Strategies of Right-wing Extremist Internet Communication)
- 06/2016-10/2021 Akademische Rätin auf Zeit, Department of Social anthropology and African Studies, JGU
- 04/2019 – 09/2019 Visiting Professorship, Department of Social Anthropology, Goethe University Frankfurt
Publications and Presentations
- (2025) “On Analyzing Humor and the Right,” Roundtable Discussion (with Raúl Perez, Andrew Bricker, Nina Cingerová, Viktor Chagas, and Seth Simons), Critical Humour Studies Association Virtual Symposium, November 14, 2025.
- (2025) “Memetapolitics, Cute Beasts, and Accelerationist Humor, or: The Cute Cat Theory of Digital Activism Revisited,” International Society of Humour Studies Conference, Krakow, July 9, 2025.
- (2025) (with Nitzan Shoshan, Mario Krämer, and Simone Pfeifer), “Authoritarian Publics: Anthropological Perspectives on the New Right in Germany.” Video: https://youtu.be/3QWFB9de-dk. Accompanying blog post: Boasblogs, September 27, 2025, https://boasblogs.org/uncommoning/authoritarian-publics/authoritarian-publics-anthropological-perspectives-on-the-new-right-in-germany/.
- (2025) (with Mirco Göpfert), “How the Far Right Uses Humour and Meme Culture to Its Advantage,” Development and Cooperation, Issue 4. https://www.dandc.eu/en/article/when-hatred-wrapped-satire-xenophobia-irony-and-fascism-jokes-it-leaves-mainstream-society.
- (2024) “Only Playing? Ethnographic Perspectives on Ludic Fascism,” Working Papers of the Department of Social Anthropology and African Studies, No. 209. https://www.ifeas.uni-mainz.de/files/2024/09/AP-209_NGuessan_Only-Playing.pdf.