Donovan Adams

Although anthropology argues that race is a social construct with no scientific validity as a biological classification, racial extremists continue to maintain racist biological hierarchical differences. Further, racial extremists use anthropological research and practice to justify these ideas and to enact both cultural and political change. The internet, particularly social media platforms, is an important arena for the perpetuation of these concepts and for racial extremists to negotiate their identities and reframe anthropological information within their worldviews. This project aims to understand how far-right racial extremists use anthropological information to create identity and community through audiovisual means. Specifically, I will focus on content produced by racial extremists on YouTube and TikTok, venues that have millions of participants, particularly teens and young adults. The goals of this project are to understand 1) what anthropological concepts are used by racial extremists online; 2) how this information is interpreted by these communities; 3) what audio, visual, and textual techniques are used when framing this information online and constructing their identities. This project?s findings can be used to inform a more ethical and robust anthropological discipline as well as provide greater insight into the techniques of the far-right to aid in deradicalization processes.