PHD, Kent State University, 2017, College of Communication and Information / School of Communication Studies

Contemporary political discourse is rife with accusations of shadowy forces operating in secret to accomplish nefarious goals. Such discourse has been a mainstay in U.S. politics, but little quantitative research has been done on the impact of government-related conspiracy theories in media and how people differ in their use of such fare. This dissertation situates conspiracy theories in a media effects framework, applying uses and gratifications theory to examine whether specific background characteristics (i.e., media skepticism, need for cognition, locus of control, and conservatism or liberalism) work in concert with individuals' motives for and exposure to government-conspiracy-theory-oriented media fare to impact individuals' trust in government as an attitudinal outcome and political participation as a behavioral outcome. Exploratory factor analysis was used to identify four motives for choosing media fare related to government conspiracy theories: (1) social utility/relaxing recreation, (2) political evaluation, (3) pass time, and (4) general information seeking. Significant correlations were found between several background characteristics and use of government-conspiracy-theory-oriented media fare. Use of such fare also correlated with trust in federal government entities and with political participation. Additionally, hierarchical regression analysis revealed the relative contribution of individual differences, motives for conspiracy-theory-oriented media use, and exposure to such fare in predicting levels of trust in four entities of the federal government. Regression analysis also showed the relative contribution of individual differences, motives for conspiracy-theory-oriented media use, exposure to conspiracy-theory-oriented media fare, and trust in government in predicting four forms of political participation. This study affirmed the value of a comprehensive uses and gratifications model for studying the political impact of government conspi (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Paul Haridakis Ph.D. (Advisor); Danielle Coombs Ph.D. (Committee Member); Janet Meyer Ph.D. (Committee Member); James Ponder Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Journalism; Literacy; Mass Communications; Mass Media; Political Science

Master of Fine Arts, The Ohio State University, 2024, Design

It can be mind-boggling to understand how one can end up being absorbed in anti-science conspiracy theories, especially those that contradict the core facts of our world that we have known since we were young. These conspiracy theorists, especially flat earthers, are often labeled as “insane” or “crazy” due to their beliefs. This thesis dives into the mindset of anti-science conspiracy theorists and flat earthers to understand the headspace they are in that drives them into these communities. The Minds of Conspiracy is a website designed and developed by synthesizing the research done by psychologists, sociologists, historians, and communication scholars. It is an exploration into providing a holistic and empathetic introduction to the complex topic of conspiracy theory with flat earthers as the case study through the use of visuals and concise language. With individuals who are non-experts in these fields as the target audience, the website is designed to effectively deliver the research findings in an easily digestible format through the principles of information design. Readers can educate themselves about the flat earth community, its impact, methods of disseminating the theory, current and potential interventions, and the importance of collaboration between relevant stakeholders to bring change for our future.

Committee: Paul Nini (Advisor); David Staley (Committee Member); Yvette Shen (Committee Member) Subjects: Design

PHD, Kent State University, 2020, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of English

Conspiracy theory is a challenging term. It often describes a form of the irrational belief that conspiracies with nefarious goals exist. However, conspiracy theory can be an epistemological approach to investigate the possibility that a conspiracy exists. I argue that it must be distinguished from "conspiracism," a term that describes a worldview the explains everything as a conspiracy. This dissertation explores how postwar novels, by Thomas Pynchon, Ishmael Reed, and Umberto Eco, represent the political and cultural challenges that conspiracy theory and conspiracism present. This dissertation proposes that conspiracy theories can be rational. They are, in general, not prima facie irrational simply because they are conspiracy theories, and in some cases, they are supported by inaccurate evidence. I argue that conspiracy theory must not be conflated with conspiracism, which is the constant belief that there are always conspiracies behind what occurs in reality. Conspiracism insists that a conspiracy exists despite the evidence that may prove otherwise. What distinguishes the rational investigation of conspiracies from the irrational and exaggerated belief in conspiracy theories is that the former maintains trust in the factual evidence that proves the conspiracy exists. In contrast, the latter refuses any evidence that proves otherwise. Conspiracy theory and conspiracism manifest differently in these novels. Firstly, Pynchon's novels highlight the use of conspiracy theory as a rational approach to investigate conspiracies. The protagonists of his novels, Oedipa Maas in The Crying of Lot 49 and Tyrone Slothrop in Gravity's Rainbow, face several epistemological challenges as they attempt to uncover the truth about the possible conspiracies which target them. Secondly, Reed's novel shows how conspiracism impedes the investigation of ac actual conspiracy that occurs within the novel. Papa LaBas, the protagonist, tries to justify his claim that a conspiracy exists b (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Tammy Clewell (Advisor); Babacar M'Baye (Committee Member); Christopher Roman (Committee Member); Rekha Sharma (Committee Member); Patrick Gallagher (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; American Literature; American Studies; Black Studies; European Studies; Literature

MA, Kent State University, 2016, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of English

This thesis will demonstrate how Thomas Pynchon and Douglas Coupland use conspiracy theory in their novels not to characterize individuals as merely paranoid or suspicious, but as a helpful, logical response to dominant narratives in the respective cultures in which the characters live. These authors' use of conspiracy theory in their novels is representative of a cultural trend of the mapping of suspicion among various members of their increasingly anxious societies. Pynchon's treatment of conspiracy theory demonstrates the organization of a culture of suspicion, comprised of various, underground subcultures in 1960's California. The shared belief in the conspiracy theory of what the novel represents as the Trystero brings together numerous, otherwise unrelated characters in their attempts to negotiate the controlling narratives that influence them. By prompting this exploration of conspiracy theory, Pynchon also reveals that the act of engaging one's personal suspicions of larger nefarious plots in the form of educated, well hypothesized conspiracy theories can serve as a liberating force for characters both psychologically and socially. Coupland's use of conspiracy theory differs from Pynchon's primarily in terms of its proliferation on the level of plot. Coupland's novels are concerned mostly with the act of storytelling, but the most important stories told involve conspiracy theories, and in each novel, characters use conspiracy theory both to rationalize the confusing, postmodern worlds they inhabit and to transcend their former social and psychological adherences to the untenable idealization of history in the form of the demolished American Dream and other societal narratives.

Committee: Tammy Clewell Ph.D (Advisor); Kevin Floyd Ph.D (Committee Member); Babacar M'Baye Ph.D (Committee Member); Trogdon Robert Ph.D (Committee Chair) Subjects: Literature

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2015, Communication Studies (Communication)

In this dissertation, I interrogated the claims to origin and cure of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and the economics of Antiretroviral Drugs (ARVs) in the rhetoric of the Gambian President, Yahya Jammeh. This study was motivated by two research questions: (1) How does Jammeh's claims fit into or depart from the known HIV/AIDS and ARVs discourses; and (2) to what extent can Kenneth Burke's terministic screens, in conjunction with the dramatistic pentad, be applied to Jammeh's claims to distill the values embedded in them for Jammeh's motives and their articulation? Regarding the origin of the HIV virus, I unearthed three competing theories—the natural transfer, the conspiratorial, and the Congo-jungle accident. Concerning the therapeutic landscape of HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa, I unraveled four predominant treatment models—the biomedical, Christian, Islamic, and traditional. For the economic views on ARVs, I synthesized four paradigms—the postcolonial, the avant-garde, the humanitarian, and the activist—for the explication of ARVs. I distilled five pentadic acts from Jammeh's claims. The first pentadic act is dominated by agency with pragmatism as its philosophical mooring. This is followed by two pentadic acts dominated by purpose with mystical philosophical inclinations, while another two of the pentadic acts are dominated by agent with idealistic philosophical outlook. The pentadic mapping of Jammeh's claims revealed that, with regard to the origin of the HIV virus, Jammeh—Allah's agency—speaks from a conspiratorial terministic screen. For the therapeutic map, it revealed Jammeh speaks from the Islamic-prophetic terministic screen; while for the economic map, it points to Jammeh's claims as postcolonial terministic constructions, whereby a purposeful neocolonial West employs ARVs to exploit and dominate Black African bodies. For the most part, Jammeh's claims lack evidence in the known scientific (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Benjamin Bates PhD (Committee Chair); Babrow Austin PhD (Committee Member); Chen Yea-Wen PhD (Committee Member); Wangui Edna PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Health