“Radical Islam Could be the Thing We Use to Distinguish Ourselves”: The Role of Race and Racism in the Unraveling of Post-Referendum Ukip

In Britain’s unexpected vote to leave the European Union, one key group of actors were the supporters of the Eurosceptic UK Independence Party (UKIP). After garnering the third largest vote share in the 2015 general election, UKIP’s members helped to inspire unanticipated levels of support for Britain’s exit from the European Union in June 2016. UKIP has long been associated with the right wing of Britain’s political spectrum and, though they strongly deny it, the party’s members are well aware of its reputation for racism and xenophobia. Drawing on twelve months of ethnographic research conducted among UKIP supporters before, during, and after the EU referendum, this presentation explores how people involved with UKIP discuss issues of race, culture, and national identity in explaining their own political views. I also examine the role these issues have played in the party’s fraught internal dynamics and the ongoing divisions among its supporters as they struggle to agree on a coherent message in the wake of their referendum victory. Employing Ruth Wodak’s Discourse Historical Approach to Critical Discourse Analysis, I examine the discursive strategies UKIP activists use to distance themselves from their party’s reputation for racism while simultaneously affirming their affinity for an exclusionary understanding of British racial, cultural, and national identity. By offering more thorough insight into how UKIP supporters process, understand, and are motivated by these complex ideas, I contribute new awareness of how the party gained influence in Britain and how its messages may be more effectively countered by anti-racist activists.