PLEASE NOTE THIS EVENT WILL NOT BE LIVE-STREAMED AND WILL BE HELD IN PERSON ONLY.

Shaved heads and sonnenrads: comparing white supremacist skinheads and the alt-right in New Zealand

In an upcoming UC Connect public lecture, right-wing extremism will be explored from the perspective of the 1990s and the modern resurgence by University of Canterbury sociologists.

In their free UC Connect public lecture, Shaved heads and sonnenrads, 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.”

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

Media contacts:

· Senior Lecturer Dr Jarrod Gilbert, UC Arts, University of Canterbury, jarrod.gilbert@canterbury.ac.nz, Phone: +6433695541

· UC Communications team, media@canterbury.ac.nz, Ph: (03) 369 3631 or 027 503 0168