Conspiracy Theories in the USA 4219-SH0053

elective courses

Classroom

Students should possess a basic knowledge of the social, political, economic, and historical contexts of the USA in the 20th century. Students should be willing to contribute meaningfully to group discussions on assigned topics, and seek out, explore, and introduce supplemental examples as appropriate; either individually or in small groups.

Knowledge:

• The basic causes and consequences of conspiracy culture in the USA.
• The major theoretical lenses that explain and/or critique conspiracist movements and conspiracism in the US.
• The impact/legacy of US conspiracy theory movements on/within digital and social media.
• The cultural and ethical implications and considerations for activists today.

Skills:

• Reflect critically on the complex causes and consequences of historical and contemporary conspiracism in the USA.
• Describe and analyze cultural and conspiracist processes and phenomena occurring in the USA through acquired lenses of history, theory, and embodiment.
• Analyze popular media in the USA as both a reflection of, and contributor to, cultural shifts.
• Interpret works of American literature, film, music, and fine art in the context of shifting and clashing cultural norms.
• Individually create and deliver a short presentation – with, without, or through the use of digital media artifacts – on an aspect of a US conspiracy theory or conspiracy culture in general.
• Write a short essay – OR create a digital artifact accompanied with a written contextualization – in the English language, using grammatically correct and appropriate theoretical, historical, and scholarly terminology.
• Critically reflect upon and/or instigate a self-planned and implemented lifelong learning process of expanding and supplementing acquired knowledge about ethical cultural intervention.

Social and Interpersonal Skills:

• Participate productively in group discussions relating to conspiracy theories or conspiracy culture in the USA.
• Work collaboratively in small groups on projects relating to conspiracism or conspiracy culture.
• Develop an enhanced ability to critically and analytically consume and discuss news, propaganda, or disinformation conveyed by digital and popular media pertaining to contemporary American politics.

• Attendance (15%)
• Discussion participation (15%)
• Individual or small group show & tell (20%)
• Individual or small group presentation and/or digital artifact (20%)
• Essay OR creative artifact with written theoretical contextualization (30%)

• 5+: 100
• 5: 91 – 99
• 4+: 86 – 90
• 4: 76 – 85
• 3+: 71 – 75
• 3: 61– 70
• 2: 60 – 0

Aupers, Stef (2012) ‘Trust No One:’ European Journal of Communication. 27(1). 22-34.

Aupers, Stef (2020) ‘Decoding Mass Media/Encoding Conspiracy Theory.’ Routledge Handbook of Conspiracy Theories. Routledge.

Bell, David and Lee-Jane Bennion-Nixon (2000) ‘The Popular Culture of Conspiracy/The Conspiracy of Popular Culture.’ The Sociological Review. 48(2). 133-152.

Bratich, Jack (2017) ‘If Everyone is a Conspiracy Theorist, is Anyone?’ Pitzer College. https://www.pitzer.edu/mcsi/2017/12/14/jack-bratich-everyone-conspiracy-theorist-anyone/

Coady, David (2021) ‘Conspiracy Theory as Heresy.’ Educational Philosophy and Theory. Taylor & Francis.

Dean, Signe (2018) ‘No, One-Third of Millennials Don't Actually Think Earth Is Flat.’ ScienceAlert.com 4 Apr. https://www.sciencealert.com/one-third-millennials-believe-Flat Earth-conspiracy-statistics-yougov-debunk

Fenster, Mark (2008) Conspiracy Theories: Secrecy and Power in American Culture. Revised Ed. University of Minnesota Press.

Ferguson, Kirby (2020) ‘Constantly Wrong: The Case Against Conspiracy Theories.’ www.thisisnotaconspiracytheory.com

Hofstadter, Richard (1966) The Paranoid Style in American Politics. Knopf. 2008. First Vintage Books Ed.

Hyzen, Aaron and Hilde Van den Bulck (2021) ‘Conspiracies, Ideological Entrepreneurs, and Digital Popular Culture.’ Media and Communication. 9(3). 179-188.

Jenkins, Henry and Wu Ming1 and Colin Maclay (2018) ‘Episode 22: Benjamin Walker and Wu Ming.’ How Do You Like it So Far? The Civic Imagination Project. 17 Oct. http://howdoyoulikeitsofar.org/episode-22-ben-walker-and-wu-ming/

Keating, Joshua (2013) ‘No, 12 Million Americans Don’t Believe the Country is Run by Shape-Shifting Lizards.’ Foreign Policy 2 Apr.

Keeley, Brian (1999) ‘Of Conspiracy Theories.’ The Journal of Philosophy. No. 96.

Knight, Peter (2000) Conspiracy Culture: From Kennedy to the X-Files. Routledge.

Lewandowsky, Stephan and Sander van der Linden (2021) ‘Countering Misinformation and Fake News Through Inoculation and Prebunking.’ European Review of Social Psychology.

Lewandowsky, Stephan (2021) ‘Climate Change Disinformation and How to Combat It.’ Annual Review of Public Health. (1)42. Apr. 10-21.

Ondrak, Joe (2021) ‘How Disinformation Is a New Kind Of Horror Fiction.’ Logically.ai. 29 Oct. https://www.logically.ai/articles/how-disinformation-is-a-new-kind-of-horror-fiction

Phillips, Whitney (2018) ‘The Oxygen of Amplification: Better Practices for Reporting on Extremists, Antagonists, and Manipulators Online.’ Data & Society Research Institute. 22 May.

Popper, Karl (1945) The Open Society and Its Enemies. Princeton University Press. Routledge; 2013.

QAnon Anonymous (2021) Jake Rockatansky, Travis View, and Julien Feeld. ‘Bonus Episode: QAnon is Dead Feat Mike Rothschild.’ 18 Jun.

Sprenger, Richard; James Bullock; Alex Healey; Tom Silverstone; and Katie Lamborn (2019) Flat Earth Rising. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/science/video/2019/feb/05/flat-earth-rising-meet-the-people-casting-aside-2500-years-of-science-video

Stawiszyński, Tomasz (2021) ‘Conspiracy Theories, Aka Alternative Cultures.’ Beyond Flat Earth. Ed. Miłosz Hodun. European Liberal Forum.

Tetraeder, Bryce P. (2026) ‘At Long Last, InfoWars Is Ours.’ The Onion. 20 April. https://theonion.com/at-long-last-infowars-is-ours/

Thompson, Clive (2020) ‘QAnon Is Like a Game—a Most Dangerous Game.’ Wired. 22 Sep. https://www.wired.com/story/qanon-most-dangerous-multiplatform-game/

Tuters, Marc (2017) ‘How conspiracy theories spread online.’ The Conversation. 7 Apr. https://theconversation.com/how-conspiracy-theories-spread-online-its-not-just-down-to-algorithms-133891

van Prooijen, Jan-Willem (2021a) ‘How conspiracy theories bypass people’s rationality.’ Psyche.co. 20 Oct.

van Prooijen, Jan-Willem (2017) ‘Why Education Predicts Decreased Belief in Conspiracy Theories.’ Applied Cognitive Psychology. (31)1.

van Prooijen, Jan-Willem and Joline Ligthart; Sabine Rosema; Yang Xu (2021b) ‘The entertainment value of conspiracy theories.’ British Journal of Psychology. 14 Jul.

Ward, Charlotte and David Voas (2011) ‘The Emergence of Conspirituality.’ Journal of Contemporary Religion. 26(1). 103-121.

Wood, Michael; et al., (2012) ‘Dead and Alive: Beliefs in Contradictory Conspiracy Theories.’ Social Psychological and Personality Science. (3)6.

Zeeuw, D. and Gekker, A. (2023). ‘A God-Tier LARP? QAnon as Conspiracy Fictioning.’ Social Media + Society. 9(1).