GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS: Students will write one 6- to 10-page paper in this
course on ONE of the topics below, with pages defined as double-spaced, one-inch
margins, in 12 pt. Times New Roman or similar type. The idea here is not to pack in as much information as you can, but
instead to present a thoughtful and clearly-written analysis that is supported
by specific evidence from the course materials. The best essays will have a clear
argument, and support
the author's point of view with specific factual or textual evidence drawn from
a wide variety of materials. For your information, rely on the course readings
(textbooks and web readings) and your lecture notes, plus whatever additional
readings may be specified in the question. You may also use --and the
best papers undoubtedly will use -- some additional documents from the Internet
resources listed on the links page of the course web
site. Please DO NOT bring in any outside secondary works without
permission from Prof. Pasley.
Papers will be due at the beginning of class on Thursday,
May 1, 2008. Late
papers will graded down 10% (one full letter grade) for every weekday they are
late.
- Write a paper critiquing the general approach that
historians and other scholars have taken in interpreting conspiracy theories
and political paranoia in American life. Do this by comparing, contrasting
and critiquing at least TWO of the following books, focusing on
the substance rather than the writing style or format, and emphasizing your
criticisms of the books' arguments and evidence. Since most of these books
are (or contain) general statements on the role of conspiracy theory in
American life, you should pay particular attention to evaluating the
author's ideas on that subject. They are available in Ellis
Library and/or through MERLIN
and MOBIUS systems and they can all be purchased through Amazon.com
as well:
| Jodi Dean, Aliens
in America : Conspiracy Cultures from Outerspace to Cyberspace |
| Mark Fenster, Conspiracy Theories: Secrecy and Power in American
Culture (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1999) |
| David Frankfurter, Evil Incarnate: Rumors of Demonic Conspiracy and
Satanic Abuse in History (Princeton: Princeton University Press,
2006) |
| Richard Hofstadter, The Paranoid Style in American Politics and
Other Essays (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979) -- the
whole book |
| Peter Knight, Conspiracy
Culture: From Kennedy to "The X-Files" |
| Seymour Martin Lipset and Earl Raab, The Politics of Unreason:
Right-Wing Extremism in America, 1790-1970 (New York: Harper &
Row, 1970) |
| Timothy Melley, Empire of Conspiracy: The Culture of Paranoia in
Postwar America (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2000) |
| Daniel Pipes, Conspiracy:
How the Paranoid Style Flourishes and Where It Comes from |
| Ray Pratt, Projecting
Paranoia : Conspiratorial Visions in American Film |
| Corey Robin, Fear: The History of a Political Idea (New York:
Oxford University Press, 2004) |
| Robert Robins and Jerrold Post, Political Paranoia: The Psychopolitics of Hatred |
| Jeffrey Burton Russell, Mephistopheles:
The Devil in the Modern World |
| Elaine Showalter, Hystories: Hysterical Epidemics and Modern Media
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1997) |
- Evaluate and analyze a particular conspiracy theory other than the ones
surrounding the John F. Kennedy assassination. (The Robert Kennedy and
Martin Luther King assassinations are fair game, however.) You may use
anything from the course lectures and readings as source material, but for
most topics you will need to employ additional sources from the C.T.
links page or the library. (For example, there are several pro- and
anti-c.t. books on the RFK and MLK assassinations, including Gerald Posner's
Killing the Dream debunking King assassination c.t.'s.). Be sure to use not just materials outlining
conspiracy beliefs but also either primary documents through which the
conspiracy beliefs can be evaluated, or skeptical sources, such as CSICOP
or the "debunking"
section of Crank dot net, which has
skeptical sites under many subjects clearly labeled .
You are REQUIRED to get Prof. Pasley's approval of the particular theory
and sources you plan to use in writing on this topic. Send
me an email or come by office hours on Friday afternoons to obtain this approval.
I am also usually available to talk after class, but please set that up in
advance to avoid a long line of people.
Remember that this is not to be used as your opportunity to make up the
wildest theories that you can. This paper should be highly factual and
analytical. Three questions should organize your paper if you choose this
topic:
| Who (especially what group of people) seems attracted to a particular
theory
(or to a particular type of theory) and what political and/or or
religious beliefs seem to be associated with it? |
| Is this theory plausible and logical in terms of the motivations,
methods,
and goals of the conspiracy that it posits? |
| What real-world concerns or fears, if any, seem to be embodied or
projected in this this set of beliefs? |
| What ideological work (or function) does this belief play for those
who hold it? |
| And, lastly, what, if any, actual evidence supports this theory? (This
should not be your sole focus.) |
|