Chapter 1: Space, Place, and the Power of Homelands
Summary
This chapter is a discussion of the critical importance of the connection between place and identity in far-right beliefs. The combination of a perception of identity based on race combines with a claim in territorial ownership of a particular homeland to shape far-right beliefs. The far-right’s underlying “cause” is a reclamation of their perceived homelands for their identity group, and they incorporate myths and legends of past glory to justify exclusionary rhetoric and practices. The beliefs of the far-right relating to home and homeland are not just national ideals but also consider local contexts. The far-right beliefs of homeland/heartland also extend into individual home life and gender roles, often emphasizing the importance of protecting white women and their ability to birth white babies and nurture white children, men, and communities.
Physical occupation of geographic homelands is only one part of the importance of place, however, as the emotional attachment to local and/or national environments is also considered. Individuals are emotionally attached to their local culture and experiences, often even more so than their nation. The particulars of a local context can directly affect an individual’s vulnerabilities to specific types of far-right narratives. Similarly, emotional attachment to a place can be a frame for nostalgia, a perception that the present is somehow worse than the past and therefore changes must be made to make the future more like utopian bygone eras. The connection to homelands leads to the fundamental call of the far-right, to establish separate white-only spaces. This call for a separate homeland (or homelands – the far-right has numerous ideas about what should be white homelands) has resulted in some efforts to create small, localized white enclaves in countries around the world.
The chapter concludes with a discussion of the other spaces that are particularly important – those spaces where people come into contact with far-right individuals and beliefs. The far-right perceives any number of spaces as important to their recruitment efforts including college campuses, MMA and music festivals, and shopping areas (both brick and mortar and online).
Comprehension Questions
1. Homelands, geographic territory, and ownership of that place, is fundamental to far-right beliefs – how do far right beliefs/ideologies tie geography to identity?
2. How do far-right beliefs incorporate myths and legends into their primary cause of “reclaiming” homelands?
3. How does nostalgia intersection with concerns about the future to shape far-right beliefs?
4. What historical references and symbols do the far-right adopt to justify their exclusionary perspectives on homelands?
5. The claiming (or reclaiming) of homelands serves both as critical to the future but also as a looming crisis – how does the far-right utilize calls for protection of homeland as both an ego boost and an ideological warning?
6. How does the far-right tie in environmental concerns into their ideology and how do they use this to help justify authoritarianism?
7. Space and place are important facets of far-right beliefs, but also in far-right recruitment – what are some of the different places where people may see/hear/experience far right ideas/beliefs?
Discussion Questions
1. What information is new to you?
2. Think about how you view your hometown (or home region), how other people view your hometown/region, and how people from your hometown/region discuss people that move in from other areas (for example, think about how people in the Pacific Northwest view people from California).
3. Think about the biggest problems your hometown faces – high unemployment, opioid epidemic, higher crime rate, lack of funding for some particular service, etc. – and then think about who is generally “blamed” for the particular issue. Discuss how that intersects or diverges from far-right arguments.
4. Discuss the power of home and place, and how this can be an emotional draw for people.
5. Because of the emotional power of home and place, how can the use of home and place as a recruitment tool by the far-right be combatted without making individuals defensive about something important to them?