Course Catalogue

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Disinformation and conspiracy theories have become prevalent in all areas of life, and cause major problems not just for the media in telling what is 'true', but also for politicians, businesses, scientific researchers, and even within social groups and families. The contents and communicative techniques of these theories are, perhaps surprisingly, age-old - ideas are repurposed and integrated into new material, and conspiracy theories frequently combine to create all-encompassing supertheories. A recent turn is the use of conspiracy theory as deliberate disinformation, which raises these issues from fringe beliefs to society-wide concerns. This course teaches students to recognise and challenge markers of disinformation, both in the remoulding of old ideas to serve a new ideology, and the ways in which purveyors of disinformation employ language in manipulative and deceitful ways.

Weeks 1-5: 1 x 2hr combined lecture/seminar per week

Week 6: Reading week (no classes)

Weeks 7-10: 1 x 2hr workshop per week

Week 11: 1 x 4hr mini-conference for course presentations

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The standard assessments for this course are:

■ Set exercise, 1000 words, 40%

■ Group presentation, 60%

If required, for instance where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, the following alternatives are available:

■ There is no alternative to the set exercise, but flexible deadlines can be offered as reasonable adjustments (students should follow the usual process for extensions).

■ An alternative spoken, written, or prerecorded format, individually, can be offered as an alternative to group presentation.

Further reasonable adjustments may be provided where necessary. Students are encouraged to consult with the course convenor.

This course aims to:

■ Help students recognise markers of disinformation and conspiracy theory across disciplines

■ Familiarise students with long-standing conspiracy theories, and the elements of these which recur in present day theories.

■ Give students analytical methods by which they can examine and evaluate information for likely conspiratorial or disinformational content.

■ Develop techniques to communicate anti-disinformation material to subject specialist and popular audiences

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Recognise major recurring elements of conspiracy theory, including knowledge of their development 

■ Analyse material for the presence of markers of disinformation and conspiratorial thinking including within their own discipline

■ Apply their own strengths in subject-specific skills to evaluate and challenge conspiracy theory and disinformation

■ Formulate a response to instances of conspiratorial thinking by presenting analysis to peers, in a way suitable for communicating these ideas to the public.