Networks of Hate: The Alt-right, "Troll Culture", and the Cultural Geography of Social Movement Spaces Online. Issue 4 (7th August 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hodge, Edwin; Hallgrimsdottir, Helga
• Is Part Of: Journal of borderlands studies. Volume 35:Issue 4(2020)
• Page Start: 563
• Page End: 580
• Publication Date: 2020-08-07
• Subjects: Alt-right -- cultural borders -- culturescapes -- bordering; Mexican-American Border Region -- Periodicals; United States -- Relations -- Mexico -- Periodicals; Mexico -- Relations -- United States -- Periodicals; Borderlands -- Periodicals; ESTADOS UNIDOS -- RELACIONES -- MEXICO -- PUBLICACIONES PERIODICAS; MEXICO -- RELACIONES -- ESTADOS UNIDOS -- PUBLICACIONES PERIODICAS; Borderlands; International relations; Mexico; North America -- Mexican-American Border Region; United States; Periodicals; 303.48273072
• DOI: 10.1080/08865655.2019.1571935
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0886-5655

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The "alternative right" or "alt-right" is a quintessentially twenty-first century phenomenon: a radicalized far right ideology that is proliferated and disseminated almost exclusively online with members drawn from all over the world. This paper argues that online debates within alt-right online communities about the acceptability of alt-right language and imagery are claims-making exercises that constitute examples of bordering processes. These debates establish cultural borders around online communities and foster new virtual geographies of counter-hegemonic movements of the far right, that transcend and challenge the role and relevance of the physical border as a container for these movements. The paper concludes by placing these findings within current theoretical framings of the a-territorial border, with particular attention to what implications these have for the Pacific Northwest.