Networks of Extremism: Shared Scripts, Strategies, and Frameworks of Hindu Nationalism and White Christian Nationalism in India and the US

Religious nationalisms develop in conversation with one another: despite their sometimes public confrontations and apparently divergent ideologies, many of today's religious nationalisms share discursive strategies, institutional structures, funding models, and media ecosystems, learning from one another through both competition and collaboration. The proposed roundtable will explore the connections between two growing and intertwined religious nationalisms: White Christian nationalism and Hindu nationalism in the US and in India. These movements exhibit marked similarities in their ideological foundations, rhetorical strategies, institutional initiatives, and use of media (especially social media). These similarities have developed as White Christian nationalism and Hindu nationalism have observed and competed with one another but also through active collaboration between their respective agents, producing surprising solidarities. The discussion will highlight the shared Islamophobia and grievance politics that often unite these nationalisms against perceived common enemies and the transnational political and financial networks that make these ‘nationalist’ movements possible.