BETWEEN EUROPE AND THE NATION: TRANSLATING THE GREAT REPLACEMENT MYTH IN SWEDISH ONLINE DISCOURSE

Abstract

The Great Replacement Myth is a conspiracy theory that has been gaining popularity across Europe, promoting ideas that threaten the liberal-democratic principles on which European unity is built, and has partly grown in the online space. This study, therefore, aims to investigate which signs of contextual translation can be found in the Swedish online discourse surrounding the Great Replacement Myth and how it relates to broader Europe. Using a Corpus-Assisted Discourse Study Approach, combining computational Corpus Linguistics with Critical Discourse Analysis. The study systematically examines discussions on the Swedish online forum Flashback. Previous research on the Great Replacement Myth has largely focused on its ideological content and transnational spread but has paid limited attention to how the conspiracy is discursively adapted and domesticated across national contexts, thus providing a research gap that this study aims to answer. The performed analysis showed that the Swedish online discourse around the Great Replacement Myth had a larger emphasis on ethnic Northerners, possibly whiteness, as well as a large trust towards governmental statistics, all of which differ from the broader European discourse. Other distinguished topics and discursive practices were found that could not with certainty be separated from broader Europe.