Mattias Gardell

Mattias Gardell
Mattias Gardell in 2010
Born	Mattias Gardell (1959-08-10)10 August 1959 Solna
Education	Stockholm University
Occupation	historian

Hans Bertil Mattias Gardell (born 10 August 1959) is a Swedish historian and scholar of comparative religion. In March 2006 he was appointed of the Nathan Söderblom Chair of Comparative Religion at Uppsala University, Sweden. He received the Lenin Award in 2009.^[1]

Mattias Gardell was born in Solna, Stockholm County, Sweden. Gardell is the son of Bertil Gardell, a professor in social psychology.^{[citation needed]} His brother is the writer and comedian Jonas Gardell. He dropped out of high school and lived many years later as a researcher among black and white racist representatives in the United States.^[2] He earned a PhD in the history of religions at Stockholm University in 1995. His 1995 dissertation on Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam was published in both British and American editions.^[3]

Gardell became a docent in 1999. He has been working at the Department of Comparative Religion and the Centre for Research in International Migration and Ethnic Relations at Stockholm University.^{[citation needed]}

Gardell specialized in the study of religious extremism and religious racism in the United States, studying groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, the Nation of Islam, and folkish movements in Neopaganism (Odinism).^[3][4]

From 2004 -2006 he lived in Cairo, Egypt, studying the rise of political Islam.^[2]

In March 2006, he returned to Sweden and was appointed the first holder (from 1 July 2006) of the Nathan Söderblom Chair of Comparative Religion at Uppsala University.^[3]

In 2010, Gardell was one of eleven Swedish activists from Ship to Gaza participating in the flotilla that tried to break the Israeli Blockade of the Gaza Strip. Along with his wife, Gardell was aboard MV Mavi Marmara during the Israeli armed forces raid on the flotilla on the morning of 31 May 2010.^[5] He was deported from Israel and landed in Sweden on 3 June, 2010 along with his wife and other Swedish participants.^[6] He told Swedish journalists "We were victims of a massive military assault ... It can not be described as anything but piracy." He also stated that the soldiers came on board with fully loaded weapons equipped with laser sights and at least four people were killed execution style.^[7]

In 2012, he testified as an expert witness on Islamophobia in the trial of Anders Behring Breivik^[8] In 2018, he co-authored the "Sweden"-section of the European Islamophobia Report 2017 published by the Erdogan controlled think-tank SETA.^[9]

In a 2015 interview Gardell stated that individuals who commit acts of Islamic terrorism for Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State have "no previous contacts with Islam" and "have no connections to any mosque" but instead have radicalized online. ^[10] Gardell holds the view that the jihadist 2017 Stockholm truck attack has received disproportionate media attention compared to right-wing acts of violence.^{[citation needed]}

Gardell is a libertarian socialist and a known human rights defender.^[2]

As of 2006, Gardell had nine children, six of his own and three "bonus children".^[3]

As of 2010, he was married to Edda Manga.^{[citation needed]}

He has said that he feels an attachment to Asatru and has practiced it "in waves", but as of 2007 did not practice itactively.^[11] In 2007 he considered himself pagan and has called himself a "spiritual anarchist".^[12]

• Royal Gold Medal, The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities Award for Distinguished Research in the Humanities, the Royal Gold Medal, 2003.^{[citation needed]}
• Lenin Award 2009^[1]

• Countdown to Armageddon: Minister Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam in the Latter Days. Stockholm: Stockholm University. 1995. ISBN 91-7153-370-2. (dissertation)
• In the Name of Elijah Muhammad: Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. Durham: Duke University Press. 1996. ISBN 0-8223-1852-0.
• Rasrisk: rasister, separatister och amerikanska kulturkonflikter (in Swedish). Stockholm: Federativ. 1998. ISBN 91-86474-22-7.
• Gods of the Blood: The Pagan Revival and White Separatism. Durham: Duke University Press. 2003. ISBN 0-8223-3059-8.
• Bin Ladin i våra hjärtan: globaliseringen och framväxten av politisk islam (in Swedish). Stockholm: Leopard. 2005. ISBN 91-7343-024-2.
• Tortyrens återkomst (in Swedish). Stockholm: Leopard. 2008. ISBN 978-91-7343-171-2.
• Islamofobi (in Swedish), Stockholm: Leopard, 2010, ISBN 978-91-7343-288-7
• Raskrigaren. Seriemördaren Peter Mangs. 2015. Leopard förlag. Swedish. ISBN 9789173433815.^[13]
• Lone Wolf Race Warriors and White Genocide. Cambridge University Press. 2021. ISBN 978-1108711135.

• Mattias Gardell page att Uppsala University https://katalog.uu.se/profile/?id=N96-202
• Media related to Mattias Gardell at Wikimedia Commons