CFP: Humber@TIFA Hosts Conspiracy Theory Conference

Humber College and the Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA) plan to host a digital conference October 22–23, 2021 titled, “The Big Hoax: The Anatomy of Anti-Intellectualism, Denialism, and Conspiracy Theories, Past and Present.”

*Please note: the American Folklore Society in-person Annual Meeting in Harrisburg takes place October 21–24, so there is overlap between these two conferences.

From Federalist Era Conspiracy Theories to past and present anti-vaccination movements and climate change denial, distrust of the expert has been a salient trait in cultural trends globally. Now, with insurrection in the United States Capitol, a global increase in far-right authoritarianism, and the troubling rise of the planet’s temperature, the effects of anti-intellectualism are being felt across the world, and even once intellectually cloistered college and university campuses are being turned into battlegrounds. While the anti-intellectual movement has persisted historically, in recent years it has been mainstreamed and weaponized by politicians and pundits to rally and enflame a base and to sow discord amongst the population. This virtual conference seeks to unearth the roots, causes and potential impacts that this movement has or may have through hosting online discussions about anti-intellectualism, denialism, distrust in media, and conspiracy theories from the past to the present.

Potential Topics for Discussion:

• Activism Agnotology
• Anti-Feminist movements
• Anti-fluoridation
• Attacks on media
• Campus wars
• Climate change denialism
• Conspiracy theories
• Contemporary or historical antivaccination movements
• Culture wars
• Defunding Liberal Arts
• Fake news
• False dilemma/ False flags
• Gibson’s Law
• Historical denialism
• Misgendering, Gender conspiracies
• Pandemic denialism
• Proletarian drift
• “Reverse Racism”
• Scientific denialism
• Social engineering
• “Social Sciences as Sorcery”
• State neglect/contempt for art
• Teaching in an Age of Disinformation
• Victims of denialism
• Vulgarisation

The conference committee welcomes individual presentation proposals of 300 words, and panel proposals (3 people max) of 900 words, based on any of the above themes. This will be the seventh annual Humber@TIFA interdisciplinary conference held by Humber College’s Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences and Innovative Learning in association with the Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA), one of the most celebrated literary festivals in the world. TIFA is located at the Harbourfront Centre, one of downtown Toronto’s major cultural and artistic venues.

Submit your proposal online by May 21, 2021: https://humber.ca/tifa/call-proposals

For questions, contact David D. Miller (co-chair of the conference) at [email protected].