Mapping the Far Right: Geomedia in an Educational Response to Right-Wing Extremism

Abstract

Across Europe, and probably the world, messages of the extreme right surface with increasing and alarming regularity in both public and virtual space. Within the virtual space, geomedia are increasingly used in nationalist propaganda, a trend which is embedded in a wider development in public discourse, election results, and policies. In Austria and Germany, particular sensibilities due to the responsibility for the Holocaust have developed, leading to various specific education initiatives that address this part of history. This paper presents an activist learning environment using geomedia to deconstruct right-wing extremist discourses, and has been tested used in university settings in Salzburg and Vienna. Using a combination of Instagram and geospatial technologies not visible to learners, results of reflection and learning processes are analyzed qualitatively across two slightly different enactments of the learning environment. Experiences suggest an encouraging potential of geomedia use in critical learning processes, as long as the technology is hidden from learners, forming an incentive, support, and contextualization of the learning process.

Viral Constructions of Space and Content Knowledge: What Teachers Need to Know

“…Participation in the construction of space is consequently easy: only access to social media and a smartphone or other device with georeferencing ability are required (Kelley, 2013: 201). Active participation that involves the creation of political and socio-spatial alternatives on social media is also implied by Jekel et al (2017) and Shelton et al (2015).…”

Using the Geographies of Learning. An Exploratory Categorization for Spatially Enabled Learning

“…Trigonometry, vector analysis), Biology (ecosystems), Physics (waves) and History (e.g. Jekel, Lehner & Vogler, 2017;Schellenbacher, 2017). While there is some common ground in the use of spatial technologies (especially in the STEM subjects, where spatial thinking may be assumed to be an explicit or implicit element), a general concept and coherent structure are conspicuous by their absences.…”

Rechtsextreme Diskurse im Unterricht analysieren. Eine theoriegeleitete Medienanalyse mit Schüler/innen

“…Für die Unterrichtskonzeption wurden sowohl Golser & Jekel (2017) als auch Jekel, Lehner & Vogler (2017) herangezogen. Beide Artikel versuchen, Rechtsextremismus zu defi nieren und diesen in einem weiteren Schritt auf unterschiedliche Weise mit Schüler/innen zu erörtern.…”