In an era of intensified information warfare, ranging from global disinformation campaigns to individual attention hacks, what are the compelling terms for political judgment? How are we to build the knowledge needed to recognize and address important forms of harm when critical information is either not to be trusted or kept hidden? Rather than approach conspiratorial narrative as an irrational response to an obviously decipherable reality, Conspiracy/Theory identifies important affinities between conspiracy theory and critical theory. It recognizes the motivation people have—in their capacities as experts, theorists, and ordinary citizens—to search for patterns in events, to uncover what is covert and attend to dimensions of life that might be hiding in plain sight. If it seems strange that so many find themselves living in incommensurable, disorienting realities, the multidisciplinary contributors to Conspiracy/Theory explore how and why that came to be. Across history and geography, contributors inquire into the affects and imaginaries of political mobilization, tracking counterrevolutionary projects while acknowledging collective futures that demand conspiratorial engagement.
Contributors. Nadia Abu El-Haj, Hussein Ali Agrama, Kathleen Belew, Elizabeth Anne Davis, Joseph Dumit, Faith Hillis, Lochlann Jain, Demetra Kasimis, Susan Lepselter, Darryl Li, Louisa Lombard, Joseph Masco, Robert Meister, Timothy Melley, Rosalind C. Morris, George Shulman, Lisa Wedeen
- Cover
- Contents
- Introduction: Conspiracy/Theory Joseph Masco and Lisa Wedeen
- Part I / Organizing Fictions
- 01. Impasse and Genre in American Politics and Literature George Shulman
- 02. Where Did Aids Come From? Lochlann Jain
- 03. A False Flag Joseph Masco
- 04. Conspiracy Attunement and Context: The Case of the President’s Body Elizabeth Anne Davis
- 05. Conspiracy, Theory, and the “Post-Truth” Public Sphere Timothy Melley
- Part II / Atmospheres of Doubt
- 06. On Uncertainty and the Question of Judgment Lisa Wedeen
- 07. Resonant Apophenia Susan Lepselter
- 08. The Play of Conspiracy in Plato’s Republic Demetra Kasimis
- 09. An Economy of Suspicion: On the “Military-Civilian Divide” and the New American Militarism Nadia Abu El-haj
- Part III / The Force of Capital
- 10. Conspiracies of Theory: Of Gold in the Shadow of Deindustrialization Rosalind C. Morris
- 11. Adrian Piper and Alien Conspiracies of Bullying and Whistleblowing Joseph Dumit
- 12. Humanitarian Profiteering in the Central African Republic as Conspiracy and Rumor Louisa Lombard
- 13. Confessions of an Accused Conspiracy Theorist: The Financialization of Higher Education Robert Meister
- Part IV / The Politics of Enmity
- 14. Conspiracy and its Curious Afterlives Faith Hillis
- 15. Comedy of Terrors: National Security Fictions and the Origins of Al-Qa‘ida Darryl Li
- 16. Aftermuslims: Authority, Suspicion, and Secrecy in the Liberal Democratic state Hussein Ali Agrama
- 17. Flame and Steel Inside the Capitol Kathleen Belew
- Epilogue Joseph Masco and Lisa Wedeen
- Acknowledgments
- References
- Contributors
- Index
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