Fake News / Bullshit in Time and Space

Fake news in the mass (as well as social) media is increasingly gaining the attention of both governments and the general public. These concerns are manifest in popular and academic discussions of ‘alternative facts’ and ‘bullshit’. Disinformation on a mass-scale is, however, in no way a recent phenomenon. Rather, it has rich, varied histories and intricate genealogies across different parts of the world.

Scholars at the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies (as well as philosophers and anthropologists elsewhere) are uniquely positioned to address themes of ‘fake news’ and ‘bullshit’ from a range of different disciplinary angles, as well as cultural and regional-historical perspectives:

  • What are the different histories of ‘fake news’?
  • How has fake news been produced and received in different parts of the world?
  • What is the role of humour in producing ‘disinformation’ and disseminating ‘bullshit’?
  • Does ‘fake news’ deploy and promote specific languages and/or vocabularies?
  • How can we conceptualize different cultures of ‘fake news’ and ‘bullshit’?

Presenters

Professor Gasan Gusejnov, School of Philology, Faculty of Humanities, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow

Associate Professor Mikkel Bunkenborg, China Studies, Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies (ToRS), UCPH

Associate Professor Ehab Galal, Middle Eastern Studies/Arabic, Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies (ToRS), UCPH

Associate Professor Vlad Strukov, Film and Digital Culture, University of Leeds (UK). Visiting Scholar at Russian Studies, Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies (ToRS), UCPH

Assistant Professor Andreas Bandak, Cross-Cultural Studies, Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies (ToRS), UCPH

Associate Professor Thomas Brudholm, Minority Studies, Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies (ToRS), UCPH

Head of Centre Ravinder Kaur, Modern South Asia Studies, Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies (ToRS), UCPH

Programme


13:00 - 13:15  Welcome by Associate Prof. Vera Skvirskaja

13:15-13:35 Prof. Gasan Gusejnov: ’The power of fakes is that they can become the truth’

13:35-13:55 Associate Prof. Thomas Brudholm: ‘Bullshit à la Harry Frankfurt’

13:55-14:15 Associate Prof. Mikkel Bunkenborg: ‘Squeaky Seaweed: Fake food and fake news in Chinese social media’

14:15-14:35 Break

14:35-14:55 Head of Centre Ravinder Kaur: ‘Is it really true? Or, how 'fast truth’ is produced in the WhatsApp University, India’

14:55-15:15 Associate Prof. Ehab Galal: ‘The Arab Spring between fact and fake’

15:15-15:35 Assistant Prof. Andreas Bandak: ‘Faking News: Syrian Realities, Public and Private’

15:35-15:55 Associate Prof. Vlad Strukov: ‘New versus old media, or the battle over (fake) news: the Russian perspective’

15:55-16:00 Short Break

16:00-17:00 Open discussion, questions from the public

The event is open to everyone and registration is required.

Please register here no later than 15. February 2018.