Alexander Lowie

I am a political anthropologist specializing in alt-right movements and the rise of illiberal politics in the contemporary United States. My research focuses on groups like the Proud Boys and Three-Percenters, with a particular emphasis on their organization, rhetoric, and relationship to broader forces like nationalism, authoritarianism, and political myth. I have conducted multi-year ethnographic fieldwork in Central Florida, where I studied how grassroots conservative activism intersects with populist mobilization and efforts to reclaim an idealized version of America.

My current book project expands on my dissertation, "The Way of the (Civil) Warrior: An Ethnography of the Contemporary Alt-Right and Patriot Movement in Florida." This work explores how economic instability, demographic change, and online communication have accelerated the spread of alt-right political beliefs and helped form what I describe as a “Patriot Movement,” a constellation of subcultures defined by identity, class, and ideological resistance to pluralism. Using participant observation, interviews, and media analysis, my work follows those who see themselves as combatants in a cultural civil war and examines what it means to “become” a civil warrior in twenty-first-century America. I am currently querying this monograph.

I also host "Dearest Suzie," an educational podcast that combines family archives and historical analysis to explore memory, masculinity, and war in American life. My grandfather served in the Vietnam War as a Warrant Officer helicopter pilot and in each episode, I present letters and photographs from his archive. His letters and my analyses on nationalism, myth, and memory have served as the basis for my second book project.

I was previously the producer for the academic podcast, "Writing It!"