Back
| Semester | spring semester 2020 |
| Course frequency | Irregular |
| Lecturers | Joschka Philipps (joschka.philipps@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | In 2016, “post-truth” was declared the international word of the year by Oxford Dictionaries. It was defined as concerning “circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” Such circumstances are supposedly becoming increasingly common in contemporary politics across the globe, and a growing body of literature has emerged on the issue. This seminar identifies methodological tools for the study of post-truth politics, discusses whether “post-truth” is an adequate umbrella term, and familiarizes students with interdisciplinary approaches to phenomena ranging from fake news, conspiracy theories, alternative facts, or, more broadly, heterogeneous perceptions of political truth and how they shape political dynamics. The seminar is divided into three sections. The first section presents the broader contemporary literature. It highlights and interactively experiments with innovative findings, approaches, and methodologies from political science, the cognitive sciences, political psychology, and sociology. The second section focuses on a range of case studies on conspiracy theories in Europe, the United States, and the Middle East, to consider how comparable they are across the three world regions. The third section finally zooms in on West Africa, a region that is rarely associated with the label of “post-truth politics”, but all the more with the phenomenon it describes. Highlighting contexts where independent and investigative journalism or institutionalized knowledge production are either absent or highly contested, this section demonstrates that “post-truth” politics may well be the rule rather than the exception. The seminar considers the implications of such cases for a political science of post-truth politics. |
| Learning objectives | • Students are capable of understanding “post-truth” politics from different disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives. They are aware of the respective advantages and disadvantages of different analytical frameworks. • Students are familiar with the empirical cases discussed during the seminar. They understand overarching patterns across world regions, but also the specificities of these regional contexts. |
| Bibliography | Arendt, Hannah. 1967. “Truth and Politics.” The New Yorker. February 18. Boltanski, Luc. 2014. Mysteries and Conspiracies : Detective Stories, Spy Novels and the Making of Modern Societies. Cambridge: Polity Press. Brotherton, Rob. 2015. Suspicious Minds: Why We Believe Conspiracy Theories. New York/London: Bloomsbury Sigma. Butter, Michael and Maurus Reinkowski. 2014. Conspiracy Theories in the United States and the Middle East: A Comparative Approach. Berlin: De Gruyter. Dozon, Jean-Pierre. 2017. La vérité est ailleurs : Complots et sorcellerie. Paris: Maison des Sciences de l’Homme. Douglas, Karen M., Joseph E. Uscinski, Robbie M. Sutton, and Aleksandra Cichocka. 2019. “Understanding Conspiracy Theories.” Political Psychology 40(1):3–35. Goodwin, Jeff, James M. Jasper, and Francesca Polletta, eds. 2001. Passionate Politics: Emotions and Social Movements. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Fioratta, Susanna. 2019. “Conspiracy Theorizing as Political Practice in Guinea.” Africa 89(3):457–78. Haidt, Jonathan. 2013. The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion. Vintage. Lakoff, George and Mark Johnson. 2003. Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Stewart, Pamela J. and Andrew Strathern. 2004. Witchcraft, Sorcery, Rumors, and Gossip. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. West, Harry G. and Todd Sanders, eds. 2003. Transparency and Conspiracy : Ethnographies of Suspicion in the New World Order. Durham: Duke University Press. |
| Comments | The number of participants is limited to 30 people. The places are assigned according to date of enrollment and subject of study. Priority will be given to students of Political Science. The seminar is open to students with no prior knowledge of West Africa. The seminar will be held in English. |
| Admission requirements | The number of participants is limited to 30 people. The places are assigned according to date of enrollment and subject of study. Priority will be given to students of Political Science. The seminar is open to students with no prior knowledge of West Africa. The seminar will be held in English. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|
No dates available. Please contact the lecturer.
| Modules |
Modul: Basics: Politics (Master's degree program: African Studies) Modul: Europäisierung und Globalisierung (Master's Studies: European Global Studies) Modul: Fields: Governance and Politics (Master's degree program: African Studies) Modul: Profil: Geschichte Afrikas (Master's degree program: European History (Start of studies before 01.08.2018)) Modul: Regionaler Fokus M.A. (Master's degree subject: Political Science) Modul: Transfer: Europa interdisziplinär (Master's degree program: European History in Global Perspective) Modul: Vertiefung Politikwissenschaft M.A. (Master's degree subject: Political Science) Module: Projects and Processes of Urbanization (Master's degree program: Critical Urbanisms) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | • Active participation in the seminar • 2 Reading Responses (2-3 pages each) • 1 Multiple Choice Test at the end of the seminar Attention: All Seminars will be graded in the Department of Political Science with the beginning of the FS20 semester. Grading scale 6.0 to 1.0, whereupon 4.0 is a pass. |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | 1-6 0,5 |
| Repeated registration | as often as necessary |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Politikwissenschaft |