Religion, Conspiracy Theories and Epistemic Capital
David G. Robertson is Lecturer in Religious Studies at the Open University, co-founder of the Religious Studies Project, and co-editor of the journal Implicit Religion. His work applies critical theory to the study of alternative and emerging religions, and to "conspiracy theory" narratives. He is the author of UFOs, the New Age and Conspiracy Theories: Millennial Conspiracism (Bloomsbury 2016) and co-editor of After World Religions: Reconstructing Religious Studies (Equinox 2016) and the Handbook of Conspiracy Theories and Contemporary Religion( Brill 2018).
Abstract: How does the study of religion help us to understand conspiracy theories – like QAnon? From fears of Satanic paedophile cabals in Washington to 5G affecting our chakras, there are plenty of examples of conspiracy theories as, in and about religion, but are there underlying structural reasons that they are such frequent bedfellows? I’ll introduce the idea of epistemic capital, as a way to understand how different ideas and entrepreneurs become popular in the marketplace of stigmatised knowledge. Finally we’ll look at QAnon, to show how ideas move through religious and conspiratorial spheres