Tom Willaert
Abstract
A defining characteristic of conspiracy texts is that they negotiate power and identity by recontextualizing prior knowledge. This dynamic has been shown to intensify on social media, where knowledge sources can readily be integrated into antagonistic narratives through hyperlinks. The objective of the present chapter is to further our understanding of this dynamic by surfacing and examining 1) how online conspiracy narratives recontextualize prior knowledge by coupling it with heterogeneous antagonistic elements, and 2) how such recontextualizing narratives operate as connectors around which diverse actors might form narrative coalitions. To this end, the chapter offers an empirical analysis of links to prior knowledge in public messaging channels from the Pushshift Telegram dataset. Using transferable methods from the field of bibliometrics, we find that politically extreme Telegram channels engage with a variety of established knowledge sources, including scientific journals, scientific repositories and other sources associated with the system of scholarly communication. Channels engaging with shared knowledge sources thereby form narrative coalitions ranging from scientific and technological imaginaries to far-right extremist and antisemitic conspiracy theories. Our analysis of these coalitions reveals (i) linguistic, political, and thematic forces that shape conspiracy narratives, (ii) emerging ideological, epistemological and ontological positions associated with online conspiracism, and (iii) how references to shared knowledge contribute to the communicability of conspiracy narratives.