Four Week Class Taught Online Via Zoom
Every other Sunday, October 25, November 8, 22, December 6, 2026
8:00 - 9:30pm ET (NYC Time)
$150 Paid Patreon Members / $175 General Admission
PLEASE NOTE: Classes will be recorded and archived for students who cannot make that time
Religious and occult traditions are reflected in the contemporary world of conspiratorial thinking and a focus on stigmatized forms of knowing. Although many of these views are controversial and sometimes lead to real world violence, adherents to these systems use them as meaning making tools as they provide narrative structures that help believers to navigate our increasingly complex information society. In a world which is replete with a multitude of viewpoints, socio-political pressures and technological uncertainty, conspiratorial thinking is an attractive method for interpreting this world as it provides answers that remove layers of nuance and complexity to propose solutions that can serve as umbrella explanations for a myriad of problems.
Drawing on the work of various theorists who study stigmatized, or esoteric, knowledge, this course investigates how claims to speculative truth function as alternative forms of knowing and meaning making. Together, we will explore some of the most prevalent conspiracy theories, particularly QAnon, and seek to understand how these theories serve a purpose akin to religiosity. This course will seek not to debunk conspiracy theories, but to take them seriously as a sociological issue and raise the following questions: how does considering the speculative seriously increase our ability to understand and empathize with others? Where do the boundaries between delusion and and healthy skepticism lie? How do conspiratorial claims sustain communities seeking reality amid uncertainty?
Robert Spinelliis the archivist for Special Collections at Middle Tennessee State University. Prior to his role there, he worked in the non-profit museum sector and was the former Special Collections Librarian at Fisk University. In addition to his work in academic libraries, Mr. Spinelli is an active researcher in the fields of misinformation and death studies. His first book, The Lizard People Don’t Want You to Read This: Essays on Conspiracy Theories in Popular Culture, was published by McFarland Publishers in Fall 2025, with his second, Death, Commemoration & Cultural Meaning: Past & Present, in December of 2025. Mr. Spinelli’s third collection, Libraries, Archives & Collective Grief, was published by Bristol University Press in 2026. Currently under contract with BAR Publishing is a fourth volume entitled Pseudoarchaeology and Conspiracy Theories in Contemporary Context as well as other works on dark tourism, hauntology and death/grief bots.
Images:
Four Week Class Taught Online Via Zoom
Every other Sunday, October 25, November 8, 22, December 6, 2026
8:00 - 9:30pm ET (NYC Time)
$150 Paid Patreon Members / $175 General Admission
PLEASE NOTE: Classes will be recorded and archived for students who cannot make that time
Religious and occult traditions are reflected in the contemporary world of conspiratorial thinking and a focus on stigmatized forms of knowing. Although many of these views are controversial and sometimes lead to real world violence, adherents to these systems use them as meaning making tools as they provide narrative structures that help believers to navigate our increasingly complex information society. In a world which is replete with a multitude of viewpoints, socio-political pressures and technological uncertainty, conspiratorial thinking is an attractive method for interpreting this world as it provides answers that remove layers of nuance and complexity to propose solutions that can serve as umbrella explanations for a myriad of problems.
Drawing on the work of various theorists who study stigmatized, or esoteric, knowledge, this course investigates how claims to speculative truth function as alternative forms of knowing and meaning making. Together, we will explore some of the most prevalent conspiracy theories, particularly QAnon, and seek to understand how these theories serve a purpose akin to religiosity. This course will seek not to debunk conspiracy theories, but to take them seriously as a sociological issue and raise the following questions: how does considering the speculative seriously increase our ability to understand and empathize with others? Where do the boundaries between delusion and and healthy skepticism lie? How do conspiratorial claims sustain communities seeking reality amid uncertainty?
Robert Spinelliis the archivist for Special Collections at Middle Tennessee State University. Prior to his role there, he worked in the non-profit museum sector and was the former Special Collections Librarian at Fisk University. In addition to his work in academic libraries, Mr. Spinelli is an active researcher in the fields of misinformation and death studies. His first book, The Lizard People Don’t Want You to Read This: Essays on Conspiracy Theories in Popular Culture, was published by McFarland Publishers in Fall 2025, with his second, Death, Commemoration & Cultural Meaning: Past & Present, in December of 2025. Mr. Spinelli’s third collection, Libraries, Archives & Collective Grief, was published by Bristol University Press in 2026. Currently under contract with BAR Publishing is a fourth volume entitled Pseudoarchaeology and Conspiracy Theories in Contemporary Context as well as other works on dark tourism, hauntology and death/grief bots.
Images:
