”Tänk på din plats”: En kvalitativ forskningsstudie om separatistiska evenemangs relation till gränsdragningar och trygghetsskapande

This paper examines the creation of safer spaces and discourse around exclusion among four feminist organizations that practice separatism. With the aim to make visible how boundaries are drawn and negotiated and how (un)safety is understood in this process, I conduct in-depth interviews with activists from these organizations. The theoretical framework draws upon Laclau and Mouffe’s theory on discourse, as well as theories on safe spaces, group creations and resistance. My methodology is based upon the operationalization of concepts from Laclau and Mouffe’s theory on discourse: nodal points, moments, floating signifiers and equivalence chains. These concepts are used to distinguish central aspects within the discourse on separatism in relation to boundary judgements and creation of safety. The study shows that boundaries are not just drawn between the included and the excluded group, but also within the included group, between the group and oneself and within the feminist ”we”. Finally, the study shows that boundary judgements and creations of ”we”, ”them” and ”I” affect how safety is negotiated. The study highlights the importance of understanding safety as a dynamic rather than a static state, which is not in binary opposition to the notion of unsafety