Erasing historical violence from the study of violent extremism

Memorialization of white supremacy at Stone Mountain, United States

Bibliographic Data

ID12919031
AuthorsPriya Dixit (0000-0002-8171-4800, Russian State Agrarian Correspondence University, corresponding author), Kathryn Miller (0000-0002-4726-9504)
Year2022
Volume15
Issue1
Pages61-82
Publication date2022-01-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCritical Studies on Terrorism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1753-9161 • E-ISSN: 1753-9153
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17539153.2022.2032550
OpenAlexW4213354233
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited35

There has been a rise in far-right extremism (FRE) globally, with a related rise in white nationalist and white supremacist violence. In all this, places connected to white supremacist violence remain less well-studied. This article reflects upon the politics of commemoration at the largest Confederate memorial in the world, Stone Mountain, Georgia in the United States. We analyse visitor reviews on TripAdvisor and YouTube videos about commemorative events to illustrate how visitors to Stone Mountain erase its and, more broadly, the United States’ history of white supremacy. Instead, there are claims that this is a tourist site, a place for leisure where violence and politics have no place. Such claims evade the issue of white supremacist violence that was foundational to the Confederate cause and to the production and development of memorials like Stone Mountain. Such erasure means understandings of “violent extremism” in the United States – wherein events like the Confederacy and its aftermath in relation to racial injustices are not discussed – is limited and incomplete. This article argues that before debating what is or is not “violent extremism”, this history of white supremacist violence needs to be reckoned with, especially regarding its presence and its traces on the landscape

Criminology · Memorialization · Nationalism · Political science · Politics · Racism · Sociology · Terrorism · White (mutation · White supremacy · History · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration · Rhetoric and Communication Studies

Tools

Open DOI