Source: University of Canterbury
05 October 2020
In an upcoming UC Connect public lecture, University of Canterbury sociologists will explore right-wing extremism from the perspective of the 1990s and the modern resurgence.
In an upcoming UC Connect public lecture, University of Canterbury sociologists will explore right-wing extremism from the perspective of the 1990s and the modern resurgence.
In their free UC Connect public lecture, Shaved heads and sonnenrads, UC’s Director of Criminal Justice, Senior Lecturer Dr Jarrod Gilbert and Ben Elley, PhD candidate in Sociology, UC Arts, will compare old-style white supremacist skinheads and the recent rise of the alt-right in New Zealand.
This presentation at UC on Wednesday evening, 7 October, will look at two periods in the history of white supremacy in New Zealand: the short-lived explosion of skinhead groups in the 1990s, and the contemporary rise of the internet-driven alt-right.
“It looks at the similarities and differences between the two groups, looking at style, symbols, ideology, and behaviour,” Dr Gilbert says.
“It looks at the history of these two movements in New Zealand and compares the economic and social factors that contributed to their rise, in particular how the different social class of members produced groups with near-identical ideology but radically different presentation and modes of action.”
Dr Jarrod Gilbert is a New Zealand sociologist and Director of Criminal Justice at the University of Canterbury. He is the author of Patched: The History of Gangs in New Zealand, and the co-editor of Criminal Justice: a New Zealand Introduction. He advises a number of government agencies on policy matters and he sits on the Academic Advisory Panel to the Department of Corrections, the advisory group of the cross sector High Impact and Innovation Team and he was a member of the Justice Advisory Group that investigated changes to the criminal justice system in New Zealand.
Ben Elley has a Master’s degree with Distinction in Sociology, a First Class Honours in English literature and a Bachelor of Arts in English and Media & Communication. His academic expertise is in semiotics, youth culture, and digital radicalism, and he is currently pursuing a PhD at UC looking at radicalisation among alt-right communities online.
UC Connect public lecture: Shaved heads and sonnenrads: comparing white supremacist skinheads and the alt-right in New Zealand, Senior Lecturer Dr Jarrod Gilbert, UC Arts, University of Canterbury and Ben Elley, PhD candidate in Sociology, UC Arts, University of Canterbury, 7pm – 8pm, Wednesday 7 October in C1 lecture theatre in C-Block, Ilam campus, Christchurch. Register to attend free at: www.canterbury.ac.nz/ucconnect
