Nancy L. Rosenblum is Senator Joseph Clark Professor of Ethics in Politics and Government emerita in the Department of Government at Harvard University. She has written on civil society, political parties, and the democracy of everyday life among neighbors. Russell Muirhead is Robert Clements Professor of Democracy and Politics in the Department of Government at Dartmouth College. He is the author of books on the moral meaning of work and partisanship in democratic theory. Together, they are co-authors of the book "A Lot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy" (Princeton University Press, 2019), and are collaborating on a forthcoming book titled "Ungoverning".

For their webinar, Rosenblum and Muirhead will carry forward the arguments developed in their book A Lot of People Are Saying— from the Trump period and into the present. Conspiracism, they argue, defines not only a reactionary social movement but also a major political party in the United States. Moreover, conspiracism takes aim not only at conspiracists’ enemies, but also at governing institutions and state capacity.

About the Seminar Series

The seminar series on populism and religion is now organized by the Lund University-based research project Beyond Truth and Lies: Conspiracy Theories, Post-Truth, and the Conditions of Public Debate. This project is an affiliate of the ongoing research program At the End of the World: A Transdisciplinary Approach to the Apocalyptic Imaginary in the Past and Present. The seminar series focuses on the theoretical, philosophical, and theological dimensions of populism, with special attention to how conspiracy theories intersect with populism.

Certain conceptions of politics – including political community, political processes, and political decision-making – characterize typical formulations of populist thought. A fundamental conviction of this seminar series is that we must investigate these conceptions if we want to engage in dialogue that goes beyond plain-sense descriptions of, or explanations for, facts, and which deeply addresses questions about how society is – and ought to be – organized. Conspiracy theories – including corresponding elements of culture that shape and are shaped by conspiracy theories – have become increasingly more public in their significance on politics, political decisions, and political movements. We welcome to our seminars a range of intellectually interested parties to discuss these matters, including senior and junior scholars, doctoral students, and beginners.

Seminars are in English, unless otherwise specified. Seminars are open to the public; you may attend by joining on Zoom.

Zoom link: https://lu-se.zoom.us/j/62645329724