This project investigates, with a specific focus on gender, how men and women in the Salafi-jihadi environment in the Swedish context mobilize after the territorial collapse of the so-called Caliphate established by Islamic State (IS).

Because IS is no longer defined by the boundaries of the physical Caliphate, and because the Salafi-jihadist milieus in Sweden continue to grow while at the same time becoming more hidden, understanding how Salafi-jihadist environments mobilize (i.e. recruit and sustain supporters) in a Swedish context after the fall of the Caliphate has become urgent. Previous research demonstrates that women and men are active in different social settings: men occupying public spaces and women mainly on social media. Substudy 1 investigates the new dynamics of mobilizing men in the offline space. Substudy 2 investigates female-specific textual and visual Salafi-jihadist mobilization narratives in unofficial online material on open-source social media targeting Swedish women. Altogether, this project contributes urgent empirical knowledge on gender-specific mobilization in the Swedish Salafi-jihadist environment in order to understand how men and women are recruited, motivated, attracted, and sustained in the milieu after the collapse of the Caliphate.

Funding: FORTE (2021-2024)
Project leader: Marco Nilsson, Jönköping University
Particpant: Henriette Esholdt, Lund University