Hybrid Book Launch – Stirring Up Hatred: Myth, Identity & Order in the Regulation of Hate Speech
Wednesday 20 September 2023, 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm BST, online and Manchester, UK
This book launch brings together esteemed professors in the field of hate crime law to discuss and celebrate the publication of Jen Neller’s ‘Stirring Up Hatred: Myth, Identity and Order in the Regulation of Hate Speech’. The book critically examines the development of the ‘stirring up hatred’ offences which are currently found within the UK’s Public Order Act 1986. Through a critical discourse analysis of key excerpts of parliamentary Hansard, the book constructs a detailed genealogy of the offences from the perspectives that shaped them. Additionally, a novel application of theory on ‘myth’ is used to trace ideas about identity and order across parliamentary debates, from fears of Fascism in the 1930s to condemnations of homophobia in the early 21st century. The story of the stirring up hatred offences told in this book therefore extends far beyond the traditional frame of a dilemma between regulating hate speech and safeguarding free speech: it is inextricably entwined with myths about law, race and national identity, and speaks to wider themes of coloniality, neoliberalism, white entitlement, British-Christian exceptionalism and the innocence of law. The book addresses a wide range of assumptions about hate speech law and raises a series of challenges about future legislative directions that will surely prompt lively discussion on the day.
About the Speakers:
Dr Jen Neller is a Senior Lecturer at Manchester Law School, where she teaches public law, human rights and research methods. With degrees in anthropology and international human rights law, and a PhD from Birkbeck School of Law, her research interrogates questions of identity, power, discourse and dignity.
Prof Leslie J Moran is Emeritus Professor in the School of Law at Birkbeck, University of London. He is internationally renowned for his research and scholarship on matters relating to sexuality and law, hate crime, law and visual culture and the judiciary.
Prof Neil Chakraborti is the Director of the Centre for Hate Studies and a Professor of Criminology at the University of Leicester. He has extensively researched and published on hate crime, targeted hostility and violence against minorities.
Find out more information and book your free place here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/stirring-up-hatred-myth-identity-order-in-the-regulation-of-hate-speech-tickets-703296106587
This event will be held both online and at Manchester Law School, Moot Courtroom, Sandra Burslem Building, Lower Ormond Street, Manchester, UK