Teaching about white nationalism: critical pedagogy about patriotism, law and the state

ABSTRACT

White nationalism has persisted in the United States, and in other settler-colonial locales, as a powerful expression of racial authority and capacity for inflicting harm. This paper stems from and reflects on the authors’ experiences of developing and delivering pedagogy about white nationalism and right-wing populism. As such, it is intended to support and catalyse curriculum development and dialogue between educators across disciplines who possess a commitment to anti-racist teaching about the political right. The analysis centred in this discussion particularly engages the relationship between white nationalist movements, patriotic mobilisation, and state power. In this regard, it is also intended to speak to critical race scholars with an interest in the role of law in sustaining and reconstituting white supremacist public engagement and discourse.

KEYWORDS:

• white nationalism
• critical race theory
• Nazism
• right-wing populism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. Even the concept of a white ethnostate can have varied meanings, with some rhetoric conceptualising it as one in which all people defined as not white are deported or killed. In contrast, some conceptions of white nationalism seem compatible with some people of colour present within a nation’s borders, provided that racial hierarchy and separation are strictly maintained, and the presence of anyone who is not white economically benefits white people (i.e. the role of people of colour is exclusively servile and subjugated).

2. It bears noting that the terrorist designation also has significant popular rhetorical traction, as demonstrated during former President Trump’s efforts to label Antifa activists terrorists and in right wing characterisations of the Black Lives Matter movement. Black Lives Matter organisers and activists are often targeted as terrorists, and particularly in the context of police work, the label of terrorist is deployed regularly against people of colour with disabilities (see e.g. Cullors and Bandele 2018).

3. Although we do not discuss it further in this paper, the influence and impact of the ACLU may also come up in discussions of white nationalist recruitment and socialisation. A substantial domestic and global genre of Nazi, white supremacist, and Klan pornography is an established element of white nationalist movement and organisational cultures, primarily used to reinforce the message that white, male domination is erotic and pleasurable. For students, consideration of racist pornography may raise similar questions about U.S. legal relationships to racist imagery, media, and speech, and the varied, relevant positions of organisations identified as liberal and left. For related discussion see MacKinnon (1991); Mayall and Russell (1993); Rapaport (2003).

4. Trump’s responses on the rare occasions when he was questioned varied, as he denied his father’s participation in Klan meetings and events, but then in reference to his father’s arrest at a Klan rally, emphasised that the charges were later dropped (Pearl 2016).

5. Similar questions have been raised in 2020, with the encouragement of Donald Trump, to propound the notion that Vice-Presidential candidate Kamala Harris is also not U.S-born or is somehow of questionable citizenship.