Subversive Semantics in Political and Cultural Discourse: The Production of Popular Knowledge

The large-scale use of semantic transfer and inversion as rhetorical tactics is particularly prevalent in right-wing discourses and populist »alternative knowledge« production. The contributors to this volume analyze processes of re-semanticizing received meanings, effectually re-coding those meanings. They investigate to what extent rhetorical maneuvers serve to establish new and powerful belief systems beyond rational and democratic control. In addition to the contemporary rightwing and conspiracy narratives, the contributions examine the discursive fields around conceptions of human nature and the deep past, population politics, gender conceptions, use of land, identity politics, nationhood, and cultural heritage.

Gesa Mackenthun is a professor of American studies at Universität Rostock. She initiated the DFG graduate school Cultural Encounters and the Discourses of Scholarship.

Jörn Dosch is a professor of international politics and development cooperation at Universität Rostock. He did his doctorate at Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz. From 2000 to 2011 he was lecturer, senior lecturer, and professor of Asian-Pacific Studies at the University of Leeds. He spent guest professorships at Stanford University and Monash University, Malaysia.