Rethinking Research Ethics, Power, and the Risk of Visibility in the Era of the Alt-Right Gaze

This essay explores what the alt-right (White ethnonationalist, fascist, misogynistic, and anti-intellectual communities ) means for social media researchers in terms of research ethics, risk, and visibility. First, it outlines how #Gamergate and #OperationDiggingDiGRA indicated that academic researchers could be targets of their hostility. This essay then draws on the work of Foucault and Mulvey to theorize how far-right groups have a kind of gaze. Then, it discusses how far-right extremism requires rethinking ethical questions around researchers and participants. Finally, some thoughts are offered as to what this means for how individuals, organizations, disciplines, and institutions can support research into these spaces.