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Mattias Gardell (born 1959) is a Swedish scholar of comparative religion and recently appointed Nathan Söderblom Professor at Uppsala University.

He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Stockholm in 1995, became a docent in 1999, and has been working at the Department of Comparative Religion and the Centre for Research in International Migration and Ethnic Relations at Stockholm University. In March 2006 he was appointed the first holder (from July 1, 2006) of the Nathan Söderblom Chair of Comparative Religion at Uppsala University. The new chair is named for Nathan Söderblom, a scholar of comparative religion, who as archbishop of Uppsala received the Nobel Peace Prize for his ecumenical work.^[1]

Gardell specializes in the study of religious extremism and religious racism in the USA, studying groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and the Nation of Islam and folkish movements in Neopaganism (Odinism). His 1995 dissertation on Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam was published in both British and American editions.

Mattias Gardell is the son of psychologist Bertil Gardell, and the brother of writer and comedian Jonas Gardell.

• Countdown to Armageddon: Minister Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam in the latter days, London: Hurst & Company, 1996 (dissertation, Stockholm University 1995), published in the United States as In the Name of Elijah Mohammed: Louis Farrakhan and The Nation of Islam, Duke University Press (1996) ISBN 978-0-8223-1845-3
• contributor, Encyclopedia of White Power (2000)
• Rasrisk (2003) Rasrisk. Rasister, separatister och amerikanska kulturkonflikter (andra uppdaterade utgåvan). Stockholm: Natur och Kultur, 2003 (2nd edition; orig. published 1998).
• Gods of the Blood: The Pagan Revival and White Separatism, Durham, NC: Duke University Press (2003), ISBN 978-0-8223-3071-4.
• Bin Ladin i våra hjärtan: globaliseringen och framväxten av politisk islam, Stockholm: Leopard, 2005.
• Vad är rasism? (planned to appear 2006)

1. ^ Anneli Waara, "Mattias Gardell ny professor i jämförande religionsvetenskap", press release, Uppsala University, 2006-03-08.