Fake News/Bullshit in Time and Space
Fake news in the mass (as well as social) media is increasingly gaining the attention of both governments and the general public. These concerns are manifest in popular and academic discussions of ‘alternative facts’ and ‘bullshit’. Disinformation on a mass-scale is, however, in no way a recent phenomenon. Rather, it has rich, varied histories and intricate genealogies across different parts of the world.
Scholars at the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies (as well as philosophers and anthropologists elsewhere) are uniquely positioned to address themes of ‘fake news’ and ‘bullshit’ from a range of different disciplinary angles, as well as cultural and regional-historical perspectives:
- What are the different histories of ‘fake news’?
- How has fake news been produced and received in different parts of the world?
- What is the role of humour in producing ‘disinformation’ and disseminating ‘bullshit’?
- Does ‘fake news’ deploy and promote specific languages and/or vocabularies?
- How can we conceptualize different cultures of ‘fake news’ and ‘bullshit’?
