The past and the present: Following in the footsteps of a neo-Nazi movement in a rural Sweden school

Abstract

This case study aimed to describe and analyse how students and staff at a school in a geographical area with a tradition of high neo-Nazi activism perceived and talked about racism and sexism in particular, and the ‘school climate’ in general. The case consists of 10 school professionals and 14 students. The selected school was located in a traditional mill town, once built around a dominating industry, but over the last decades it has been characterised by deindustrialisation and economic decline. The town became the founding area of the Swedish National Socialist movement during the interwar period and has since hosted vital parts of the movement, which is ongoing. Today, the local movement comprises middle-aged former skinheads who have children attending the local school. The study scrutinised the encounter between the mill town’s ingrained racism and the school’s duty to prevent racism and promote tolerance. The outcome shows how Nazi movement has generationally reproduced itself in Shortfield for a century, in the midst of the municipality and indeed also within the roams of the school’s professional work – with the teachers well aware of the continuous history – but with only people from the outside realising the problem of racism in Shortfield.