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Conspiracy theories are a pervasive and powerful force in contemporary society, shaping public discourse and influencing real-world events. Understanding their origins, spread, and impact is crucial in navigating today’s information landscape. This panel will bring together experts to delve into the multifaceted world of conspiracy theories. Drawing on diverse academic perspectives, the discussion will explore the nature of conspiracy theories, their societal implications, and how they are understood and addressed.
The panel will feature Michael M. Cohen, Associate Professor of American Studies and African American Studies at UC Berkeley, and Tim Tangherlini, Professor in the Department of Scandinavian and the School of Information at UC Berkeley. Lakshmi Sarah, journalist and lecturer at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, will moderate.
Matrix On Point is a discussion series promoting focused, cross-disciplinary conversations on today’s most pressing issues. Offering opportunities for scholarly exchange and interaction, each Matrix On Point features the perspectives of leading scholars and specialists from different disciplines, followed by an open conversation. These thought-provoking events are free and open to the public.
Panelists
Michael M Cohen was born in Denver, Colorado, the child of two public school teachers. He holds a BA in History from the University of Colorado and a Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale University (2004). He is currently an Associate Teaching Professor at UC Berkeley with a joint appointment in American Studies and African American Studies. He is the author of The Conspiracy of Capital: Law, Violence and American Popular Radicalism in the Age of Monopoly (2019). His general research and teaching areas cover the cultural and political history of the United States from the Civil War to the present. Areas of emphasis include racial capitalism and racial formations in the United States; labor, work and radical social movements; Marx and the Marxist tradition in world history and theory; cultural studies, popular culture, and US film and literature; theories of conspiracy and conspiracy theories; political cartooning and comic books; race and drugs in US history; and contemporary US politics and social change.
Tim Tangherlini is the Elizabeth H. and Eugene A. Shurtleff Chair in Undergraduate Education at UC Berkeley. He is a Professor in the Dept. of Scandinavian and in the School of Information. A folklorist and ethnographer by training, he is the author of Danish Folktales, Legends and Other Stories (2014), Talking Trauma (1999), and Interpreting Legend (1994). He has also published widely in academic journals. He is interested in the circulation of stories on and across social networks, and the ways in which stories are used by individuals in their ongoing negotiation of ideology with the groups to which they belong. In general, his work focuses on computational approaches to problems in the study of folklore, literature, and culture. He is a Fellow of the American Folklore Society and the Royal Gustav Adolf Academy (one of Sweden’s Royal Academies). A producer of three independent documentary films, he has also consulted on films for Disney Animation, National Geographic Television, National Geographic Specials, and PBS.
Lakshmi Sarah is an educator and journalist with a focus on experimental storytelling. She has produced content for newspapers, radio and magazines from Ahmedabad, India to Los Angeles, California including AJ+, Die Zeit Online and The New York Times. She is currently a digital producer for KQED News and a lecturer in the UC Berkeley Department of Geography. She has developed curriculum training journalists in video and immersive storytelling skills in the U.S., India, and around the world. Previously, as a lecturer at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and Berkeley’s Advanced Media Institute, she taught multimedia and VR workshops. Her teaching and reporting have brought her to Hamburg, Germany as a Fulbright Fellow; to Berlin as an Arthur F. Burns Fellow with Die Zeit Online; and to India to report on ethnic violence in the Northeastern state of Manipur as a Pulitzer Center grant recipient.
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