The Alt-Right in US History
Abstract: This talk places the contemporary Alt-Right within a longer history of racist right ideas and organizing. Beginning with the formation of the KKK at the close of the Civil War, I show how the racist right often sees a surge in activity and membership in response to extensions of Civil Rights for people of color. I draw form over ten years of research on the racist right to discuss the emergence of the white nationalist movement in the 1990s and its expansion into the Alt-Right in the last few years. I also discuss the role of new media in the proliferation of this movement.
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Speaker Bio
Sophie Bjork-James has over ten years of experience researching both the US based Religious Right and the white nationalist movements. She is finalizing a book manuscript on race and evangelical politics in the United States. Her work has appeared in American Anthropologist, Oxford Bibliographies, Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, and The Ethnic Studies Review. She is co-editor of the book, Beyond Populism: Angry Politics and the Twilight of Neoliberalism (forthcoming, the University of West Virginia Press). She has appeared on the NBC Nightly News, NPR’s All Things Considered, and BBC Radio 4’s Today.