Debate
Offline Exclusion, Online Exclusion? Understanding the interplay between social exclusion, online communities and extremist ideologies
- Dr Eviane Leidig
- Dr Ashton Kingdon
- Dr Bharath Ganesh
- Date
- Thursday 14 April 2022
- Time
- Address
-
Wijnhaven
Turfmarkt 99
2511 DP The Hague - Room
- Spanish Steps
Join us to discuss the latest research by leading experts in online-offline extremism as part of the first in the 2022 series of DRIVE workshops, held in-person at Wijnhaven campus and online via Teams.
This hybrid workshop explores the role that social media and other forms of online spaces play in radicalisation and extremist attitudes. It explores key issues such as the link between social alienation and engagement with extreme online spaces, the role of the internet in radicalisation, whether and how online extremism can turn into offline violence, and how best to respond to algorithm bubbles, content moderation and 'cryptic' extremist content.
Pertinent points of enquiry in this area include but are not limited to:
- Algorithms bubbles and 'cryptic images'
- What is the link between social alienation and people withdrawing from offline environments for extremist online spaces?
- What is different about online and offline forms of community? How do these two worlds overlap/merge?
- How do radicalisers stay in touch with and manipulate technological developments, are they somehow ahead of the curve?
- How do online communities differ from offline communities?
- Usage of social spaces and social media for extremist purposes
- What elements make individuals feel included or excluded?
- Are offline exclusion and online inclusion interconnected? If so, how?
Collaborating with DRIVE networks in our partner countries, this event will give a chance to hear from across Europe on contemporary extremist movements, and the efforts taking place to combat them.
We will look specifically towards the threat posed by online community offerings to vulnerable young people, and more broadly at the modes of interaction between technology and radicalisation.
Speakers
Dr. Eviane Leidig is a Research Fellow at the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT) in The Hague, Netherlands. Her research focuses on the far-right, gender, and online radicalization, recruitment and propaganda, as well as online governance. She has published in Nations & Nationalism, Patterns of Prejudice, Media & Communication, Religions, and Routledge, and has edited two volumes on the radical right (Ibidem-verlag). She is a co-editor and co-founder of a new book series, ‘Global Studies of the Far Right’, at Manchester University Press. Eviane is an affiliate at the Center for Research on Extremism (C-REX) at the University of Oslo and an Associate Fellow at the Global Network on Extremism & Technology (GNET). She has given talks and consults for policymakers such as the U.S. State Department, European Commission, Council of Europe, and the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT).
Dr Bharath Ganesh is an Assistant Professor of Media Studies at the University of Groningen. He is a political geographer focusing on new media, political communication, and cultures of hate and intolerance online using computational and qualitative methods. Dr Ganesh’s research interests include hate, intolerance, and prejudice in Europe and North America; racism and bigotry in digital propaganda; regulatory responses to extremism online; as well as disinformation, social media manipulation and digital advertising. Prior to joining the University of Groningen, Bharath was a postdoctoral researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII), University of Oxford, and completed his PhD in Geography at UCL in 2017. He research has recently been published in academic journals, such as the Journal of International Affairs and European Societies.
Dr. Ashton Kingdon is a lecturer in criminology at the University of Southampton. She is also an Advisory Board Member at the Accelerationism Research Consortium and a core member of the Extremism and Gaming Research Network (EGRN). Her research is interdisciplinary, combining criminology, history, and computer science to explore the ways in which extremists utilise technology for recruitment and radicalisation, whilst giving equal weight to the subcultural elements of the users of this technology. In addition, she examines the various ways history is being manipulated and weaponised to fuel contemporary extremist narratives. She has taught widely in the areas of criminology, security theory, politics and international relations, and terrorism studies. Throughout the past few years she has advised the UK and US governments, military, United Nations, the police, and social media companies as to the risks posed by extremists operating online. In addition to extremists’ use of technology to recruit and radicalise, her expertise lies in analysing the relationship existing between terrorism and climate change.
Moderator
This event will be moderated by Professor Tahir Abbas.
Prof. Tahir Abbas teaches and researches in the areas of ethnic studies, sociology of Islam, and critical terrorism studies. He has also researched and written extensively on Islamophobia, education, and racial politics. Professor Tahir Abbas FRSA FAcSS holds the Chair in Radicalisation Studies at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs in 2018. Previously, he was a Senior Research Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London, Professor of Sociology at Fatih Istanbul University, and a Reader (Associate Professor) in Sociology and Director of the Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Culture at the University of Birmingham.
Registration and questions
Please register for this event via this form.
If you have any questions, please contact Peter Jacobs.
For more information on the workshops and the DRIVE project, visit www.driveproject.eu
Project Drive
DRIVE – Resisting Radicalisation through Inclusion is an EU-funded project researching
the impact of social exclusion on those vulnerable to the far right and Islamism. The
realities of individuals are important to be understood – elements of these realities
are to be found in online spaces.
