Sep 5, 2024 2:00 PM
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Religious Conspiracy Theories in the Process of Radicalization into Extremism and Fundamentalism

Religious Conspiracy Theories in the Process of Radicalization into Extremism and Fundamentalism

Panel:
[PA] Semiotics of Religion (Jenny Ponzo, Massimo Leone)
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Speaker:
Heidi Campana Piva
Università degli Studi di Torino
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Although religious conspiracy theories are not a novel problem confined to social media, the accelerated evolution of digital technology has undoubtedly altered the way information is produced, distributed, and interpreted. From this context, the present paper aims to investigate meaning-making in case studies where the digital propagation of religious conspiracy theories plays a central role in the spurring of extremism and fundamentalism. For that, a qualitative approach supplied by semiotics and philosophy of communication (textual analysis) is combined with a quantitative approach based on Natural Language Processing (NLP) to study the digital propagation of the Eurabia conspiracy theory on the messaging application Telegram. This study seeks to identify language patterns (signs, texts, and/or codes) that can potentially assist in the religious codification of cultural meanings and in the formation of ideological clusters of conspiracy theorists on social media, pointing to how these patterns fit inside the wider process of radicalization, here understood as a communicative practice. It is possible to argue that there is a structural tendency for fundamentalists to uphold conspiracy theories, which is reflected in their dichotomic thinking style aimed at making sense of societal events by providing oversimplified explanations, following the notion that any other ways of interpretation are always evil or wrong. Generally, both radicalization and religious conspiracy theories are fundamentally related to meaning-making processes that provide cognitive closure by introducing a narrative from which one may drive purpose and, thus, organise a cohesive and meaningful way to interpret this very complex and conflicting reality.

Location:
0.410 room, WLS (Dobra 55 street)

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September 2, 2024
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From Signs of Language to Semioses of Life: Paradigms and Turns in Global Semiotics

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September
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Location:
Australia Hall, WLS (Dobra 55 street)
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September 2, 2024
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Heidi Campana Piva