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Genealogy
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Conspiracy Theories: Genealogies and Political Uses
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Conspiracy Theories: Genealogies and Political Uses

A special issue of Genealogy (ISSN 2313-5778).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2024 | Viewed by 3945

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Marco Solinas

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of DIRPOLIS, Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies of Pisa, Piazza Martiri della Libertà 33, 56127 Pisa, Italy
Interests: political and social philosophy; critical theory; conspiracy theories; populism

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The special issue is aimed at presenting an interdisciplinary overview of conspiracy theories especially with regards to their political uses, and the transformations they have undergone over the past few decades, but with some genealogical slanted analyses going further back in time.

Compared to the contemporary literature on conspiracy theories, the special issue has the virtue of bringing together scholars from different disciplines, with whom I have already agreed, in dealing with the topic of the political uses of conspiracy theories, though understood in a broad sense.

An up-to-date and innovative overview of the phenomenon is thus offered, ranging from political sociology to the history of ideas, from political philosophy to literary criticism, from semiotic analyses to theories of law, from political science to the history of philosophy.

The bibliographical references are calibrated for each author and discipline, and they too therefore come to offer a broad and up-to-date overview.

The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication will be waived for papers accepted for this special issue. The special Issue is part of the activity of the European Jean Monnet Module project GOLDSTEIN, directed by Dr. Marco Solinas at the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, Italy.

Dr. Marco Solinas
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Genealogy is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • conspiracy theories
  • genealogy of conspiracy theories
  • political conspiracism
  • populism

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 264 KiB  
Article
Sociopolitical Genealogy of Populist Conspiracy Theories in the Context of Hyperpolitics
by Alessio Esposito
Genealogy 2024, 8(2), 66; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8020066 - 23 May 2024
Viewed by 324
Abstract
The wide circulation of conspiracy narratives and their frequent intertwining with populist rhetoric is both an element of concern and a topic of intense scientific and philosophical debate. The depth of the link between conspiracy theories and populism represents a crucial issue whose [...] Read more.
The wide circulation of conspiracy narratives and their frequent intertwining with populist rhetoric is both an element of concern and a topic of intense scientific and philosophical debate. The depth of the link between conspiracy theories and populism represents a crucial issue whose comprehension can facilitate understanding their specific nature and the factors behind their diffusion in public communication. To this end, it is necessary to cultivate an interdisciplinary approach and great critical attention, eschewing monocausal explanations. This paper addresses the question of the essentially political nature of conspiracism, confronting the recent epistemological debate that, by putting the positivist paradigm aside, has sought to explore and understand the socio-cultural roots of conspiracy rhetoric, with its sceptical, antagonistic and hermetic traits. By integrating the reflections of epistemologists such as Cassam or Harris with the considerations of political scientists such as Taggart and with Schmitt’s radical reflections on politics, it is perhaps possible to reintegrate the different approaches to populist conspiracism into an overall social genealogical perspective, thanks also to recent demographic elaborations. Thus, we could ascribe the spread of conspiracism to the prevalence in societies of a hyperpolitical discursive regime, i.e., founded on the principle of opposition, without the possibility of compromise, between different groups and interests. At the basis of such Manichaeism, it is plausible to place in the first place the growing inequalities and related social disintegration, which hinder the circulation of trust and recognition between individuals and groups, thus ending up undermining democracy at its roots, as a political system that legitimises and thus peacefully regulates conflict. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Conspiracy Theories: Genealogies and Political Uses)
17 pages, 2775 KiB  
Article
Multimodal Genealogy: The Capitol Hill Riot and Conspiracy Iconography
by Vittorio Iervese
Genealogy 2024, 8(2), 58; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8020058 - 11 May 2024
Viewed by 405
Abstract
The Capitol Hill riots on 6 January 2021 were an event of great importance not only because of their political and legal impact, but also because they allowed everyone to observe the symbols, images, masks, and other signs that were displayed in front [...] Read more.
The Capitol Hill riots on 6 January 2021 were an event of great importance not only because of their political and legal impact, but also because they allowed everyone to observe the symbols, images, masks, and other signs that were displayed in front of the cameras of many journalists and eyewitnesses. The iconography displayed on that occasion should not be dealt with as an extemporary invention but considered the result of a process of semantic and narrative accumulation produced in online and offline interactions. This article seeks to outline a theoretical–methodological framework of contemporary conspiracy images as multimodal forms of communication. Starting with images collected on Capitol Hill along with a corpus of online conversations that occurred on platforms such as Gab, in particular, between 2016 and 2021, examples of the dynamics of constitution of conspiracy images and their genealogy will be provided. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Conspiracy Theories: Genealogies and Political Uses)
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15 pages, 297 KiB  
Article
Exploring Conspiracist Populism in Power: The Case of Kais Saied in Tunisia
by Claudia Annovi
Genealogy 2024, 8(2), 43; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8020043 - 16 Apr 2024
Viewed by 939
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to conduct a literature review of the existing nexus between conspiracy theories and populist politics. Most of the literature considering the political nature of conspiracy theories has focused mainly on individual action and electoral choices, hence setting [...] Read more.
The aim of this paper is to conduct a literature review of the existing nexus between conspiracy theories and populist politics. Most of the literature considering the political nature of conspiracy theories has focused mainly on individual action and electoral choices, hence setting aside the agency of political leaders that deliberately resort to these tales to mobilise supporters. On the contrary, conspiracy theories are increasingly moving away from extremist politics to enter the institutional political arena and become part and parcel of the political narratives and strategies of institutional figures. Against this backdrop, the present work offers a new approach to investigate the connection between populist conspiracy theories and conspiracist populism and attempts to explain how conspiracist populism works and what its potential impact on contemporary democracies is. The analysis of the literature offers some theoretical insights to explore the specific case of the presidency of Kais Saied in Tunisia, which has been labelled as a form of constitutional populism integrating conspiracy theories. The inquiry on the Tunisian case demonstrates that conspiracy theories can represent both tactics and framings for populists in power, and, if democratic checks and balances are weak enough, they can lead to the erosion of democracy itself. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Conspiracy Theories: Genealogies and Political Uses)
15 pages, 292 KiB  
Article
The “Global” Deception: Flat-Earth Conspiracy Theory between Science and Religion
by Nicola Luciano Pannofino
Genealogy 2024, 8(2), 32; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8020032 - 25 Mar 2024
Viewed by 1318
Abstract
The article focuses on flat earthism, one of the most well-known contemporary conspiracy theories in popular culture. According to proponents of this theory, which has found a growing international following in recent years, political institutions such as the U.S. government and scientific institutions [...] Read more.
The article focuses on flat earthism, one of the most well-known contemporary conspiracy theories in popular culture. According to proponents of this theory, which has found a growing international following in recent years, political institutions such as the U.S. government and scientific institutions such as NASA would operate to deceive humanity about the real shape of our planet and the universe in which we live. In countering the data acquired by modern science and common sense knowledge, flat earthism stands as a heterodox theory and a radical critique of the authority of socially legitimized epistemic institutions. This article consists of two parts. The first part will offer a genealogical reconstruction of the flat-earth conspiracy, tracing its history from the 19th century to the exponents of the current movement. The second part will delve into the discourse of the proponents of flat earthism with specific reference to the Italian context, through documentary analysis of recent publications and online material available on YouTube and Telegram, which constitute some of the main channels for the discussion and dissemination of flat earthism in Italy today. On the basis of the data collected and analyzed, it will be shown how flat earthism represents a paradigmatic case of superconspiracy, that is, of a far-reaching theory capable of linking and including within itself a set of other, more circumscribed theories. To this end, flat earthism elaborates on a discourse that ambivalently combines two registers, scientific and religious language, proposing itself as a dissident narrative that if on the one hand rejects the knowledge of institutionalized and organized science and religion, on the other hand accredits an alternative and anti-intellectualist path of knowledge, accessible to the “common man” that aims to create a space of autonomy and opposition to the processes of secularization and globalization in which the flat earthers see the project of building a dystopian New World Order. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Conspiracy Theories: Genealogies and Political Uses)
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