Zita Babarczi and Matthew Harris will examine conspiracies in literature and how focused teaching of critical thinking in the classroom can help create citizens more capable of engaging with them. Conspiracies of desire are examined through an analysis of Philip K. Dick’s Time out of Joint. A close reading of the thought-terminating cliché of “Do the Research” has become the standard reply to any Qanon doubters in their dismissal climate change, BLM protests, and COVID vaccines in an embrace of reactionary politics. If we want our students to be “thinking critically” we must recognize that their thinking has to expand to take in other viewpoints, to embrace discomfort and to work towards a more just world.

This event is part of the annual interdisciplinary Humber Liberal Arts Conference. This year’s focus is The Big Hoax: The Anatomy of Anti-Intellectualism, Denialism and Conspiracy Theories, Past and Present. Tune in to plenary sessions, free and open to the public, October 22–23.

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