Alexander Beringer, University of Montevallo assistant professor of English, has received a fellowship to serve as a visiting scholar for the Conspiracy and Democracy project at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom in 2014.
The goal of this five-year research project, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, is to explore the pervasiveness of conspiracy theories in modern societies and the factors that promulgate them. It is not designed to debunk particular theories but to provide a “natural history” of conspiracy theorizing. By combining the perspectives, investigative methods and insights of historians, political theorists, network engineers and other disciplines, it is hoped that a deeper and richer understanding of this phenomenon will be reached.
While in the UK, Beringer will participate in seminars with other scholars, give public lectures about his research and work on his book project, titled “The Pleasures of Conspiracy in American Literature and Culture 1865-1910.”