This week on Yeah Nah Pasaran! we talk to Ashton Kingdon [Bluesky]. Ashton is a lecturer in Criminology at the University of Southampton, a previous guest of ours (February 2021), and the author of The World White Web: Uncovering the Hidden Meanings of Online Far-Right Propaganda (Palgrave, 2024), which:
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.
The book is Open Access, and available for download here.
4.30pm, Thursday, January 23, 2025 /// 855AM, digital, streaming, Community Radio Plus
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