Conspiracy theories in the United States and elsewhere have reached a level of importance and acceptance that would have been unimaginable ten years ago. The myth of the „stolen election“ of 2020 has become a kind of creed for the Republican Party.
How did this happen, and what does it mean for the political culture of the country and the future of democracy? These questions will be addressed in this teacher training, which will also pay special attention to the close connections between conspiracism and populism. Ideas and materials for discussing the topic in the classroom will also be provided.
is Professor of American Literary and Cultural History at the University of Tübingen and a member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. He received his PhD from the University of Bonn in 2007 and his Habilitation from the University of Freiburg in 2012. He is the author of “Nichts ist, wie es scheint”: Über Verschwörungstheorien (Berlin: Suhrkamp, 2018), an introduction to conspiracy theories, which was translated into English, Portuguese and Polish. He serves on the advisory board of veritas, which offers counseling for people affected by conspiracy theory. In July 2021, he was awarded the Tübingen Prize for Knowledge Communication.
