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Michael Barkun
scholar · 8 mentions across 2 readings
In this course
Michael Barkun is a scholar of conspiracy theories and the cultic milieu who provides theoretical frameworks for understanding how occult, spiritual, and political ideologies become entangled in contemporary belief systems. His concept that religion, politics, and the occult can become "indistinguishable" under certain conditions is used here to analyze phenomena like the Mandela Effect and "conspirituality"—hybrid worldviews that blend esoteric knowledge with conspiratorial thinking. In the context of Pandaemonium's concerns with how networked culture and algorithmic systems amplify alternative epistemologies, Barkun's work enables analysis of how digital spaces facilitate the rapid circulation and mutation of these hybrid belief ecologies.
Mentioned in 2 readings
Appears alongside
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