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As contemporary society becomes immersed in a visual culture, extremist imagery is becoming progressively organized around a network of symbols, rituals, and collective meanings. The research presented here employs one distinctive meme of the Waco Siege as a template to guide the reader through three different manifestations of anti-government extremism, and provides a conceptual framework on which future research can build. The significance of this approach lies in its ability to capture both the universality of an individual meme—its overarching message on which all viewers can agree—and its peculiarity—the inherent crystallizations and contrasting narratives perceived by individual users, operating on different social media platforms, at particular moments in time. This chapter will also outline the primary methodological and ethical considerations that need to be taken into consideration by researchers using memes as the primary object of study.

The focus of this workshop was individuals’ experiences of, and engagement with, extremist ideas and beliefs – both jihadist and far-right – in a variety of different settings. Panellists explored the role of video games, music, humour and the occult in normalising extremism and assessed the extent to which this plays a role in radicalisation trajectories and desensitises individuals to violence. The reverse process – in which extremist actors adopt mainstream culture to expound their message – was also considered.

Panellists:

Dr Suraj Lakhani (University of Sussex)

Dr Weeda Mehran (University of Exeter)

Prof Jonathan Pieslak (The City College of New York, CUNY)

Dr Ashton Kingdon (University of Southampton)

VOX-Pol Guest Lecture Series, Autumn 2022

Speaker: Dr. Ashton Kingdon

Title: Alternative Histories and Far-right Occult Subcultures

VOX-Pol Blog Post.

In response to the data revolution, academic research and media attention have increasingly focused on the technological adaptation and innovation displayed by the far right. The greatest attention is paid to social media and how groups and organizations are utilizing technological advancement and growth in virtual networks to increase recruitment and advance radicalization on a global scale. As with most social and political endeavors, certain technologies are in vogue and thus draw the attention of users and regulators and service providers. This creates a technological blind spot within which extremist groups frequently operate older and less well regarded technologies without the oversight that one might expect. This article examines the less well-studied traditional and official websites of the Ku Klux Klan, the most established and iconic of American far-right organizations. By incorporating non-participant observation of online spaces and thematic analysis, this research analyzes the evolution of 26 websites, from their emergence in the early 1990s to the present day. We examine the ways in which traditional printed communications and other ephemera have progressed with advances in technology, focusing on the following central elements of Klan political activism and community formation: Klan identity, organizational history, aims and objectives; technology and outreach, including online merchandise and event organization; and the constructions of whiteness and racism. The results add value and insight to comparable work by offering a unique historical insight into the ways in which the Klan have developed and made use of Web 1.0, Web 2.0, and Web3 technologies.

*OPEN ACCESS*

The World White Web provides an interdisciplinary analysis of far-right radicalisation in the digital age, drawing from criminology, history, and computer science to explore how technology and imagery accelerate extremist recruitment. The book examines 20,000 internet memes to reveal white supremacy’s deep historical roots. It demonstrates how far-right propagandists leverage historical narratives and symbols to influence modern-day recruitment, bridging fringe and mainstream ideas across diverse time periods, countries and contexts, amid technological and social changes. Topics include racism and xenophobia in Greek and Roman antiquity, antisemitism in the Middle Ages, anti-Black racism rooted in the Antebellum South, the weaponisation of the Reconquista in Spain, the memeification of the Rurik Dynasty in Russia, Crusader iconography in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, eco-fascist propaganda in the Balkans, neo-Nazi mythology in India, and Völkisch ideology in Germany and Austria. The book emphasises the importance of interdisciplinary, socio-technical and multi-stakeholder approaches to truly comprehend and address the contemporary manifestations and threats posed by the global interconnectedness of the far right online.