Simon Marmura-Brown

Research Project

Canada Graduate Scholarship – Doctoral Program
Project: Intolerance or Economic Anxiety: Understanding Ethno-national Movements in Canada

Brief Biography

Simon Marmura Brown is a PhD student in Political Science at Queen’s University studying ethnonationalist and extremism. His current research continues the work he undertook in his MA on the Alt-Right in the US and examines past and present anti-immigration sentiments—specifically those associated with the radical/far-right—in Canada. As the renewed academic interest in right-wing extremism has shown, we are witnessing an increase in anti-immigrant ideologies and hate crimes against visible minorities. While most engagement examines the current movement as it organizes, communicates, and recruits, there has not been a historic analysis of it since the 1980s. He hypothesizes that these movements—always present in some form throughout Canada’s history—increase as a consequence of economic anxiety. This often occurs after economic crashes or crises. As such, his research examines the rise of these ideologies in relation to economic fluctuations. Through his doctoral research, he hopes to identify concrete policies and activisms that have attenuated these movements in the past in order to contribute to contemporary policy alternatives and institutional reforms that support a more peaceful and inclusive Canadian society today.