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.
Highlights
Recent elections in the USA, France, Austria, and the Netherlands and the BREXIT referendum in the UK have one thing in common: a shift to the populist right, a tendency to look for simple, if not simplistic, answers, a longing for strong leaders, discourses of “alternative facts”, and a retreat to nationalistic arguments [1,2]. Embedded in these discourses are quite a few notions that may be termed “extreme right”, that use symbols used in National Socialism, or at least codes that hint at this ideology in a version of hide and seek
Based on the insights and experiences outlined above, we may draw a few conclusions that are relevant both theories regarding geomedia-based education in general and for the role geomedia plays in these specific learning environments
With respect to the spatial citizenship concept [36,41], it has been shown that geomedia have the potential to promote an activist citizenship approach in education
Summary
Recent elections in the USA, France, Austria, and the Netherlands and the BREXIT referendum in the UK have one thing in common: a shift to the populist right, a tendency to (again) look for simple, if not simplistic, answers, a longing for strong leaders, discourses of “alternative facts”, and a retreat to nationalistic arguments [1,2]. A man who flew a kite with Nazi symbols in Salzburg city was sentenced to two years in prison in early 2017 [5] While this legislation and law enforcement have been criticized by the political right as infringing the right to free expression, one European court has ruled that this legislation is rightful and within the capabilities of the nation state [6], which may take action due to specific historic sensibilities (i.e., Germany and Austria being the main Nazi culprits of both the Holocaust and war crimes).
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