BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk// X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Knowlege Gaps: The Early Modern Foundations of Conspiracy &\; D emocracy - Professor Cornel Zwierlein (Ruhr-Universität Bochum) DTSTART:20140128T170000Z DTEND:20140128T190000Z UID:TALK50284@talks.cam.ac.uk CONTACT:Vickie Freer DESCRIPTION:Please join the Leverhulme-funded Conspiracy & Democracy resea rch project on Tuesday\, 28 January at 5pm at the Alison Richard Building (Sidgwick Site) when Professor Cornel Zwierlein (Ruhr-Universität Bochum) will speak about “Knowledge Gaps: The Early Modern Foundations of Consp iracy & Democracy”.\n\nIt seems as if Conspiracy Theories are a particul arly modern phenomenon. By relying on some examples and cases\, this lectu re gives a long-term overview of what they looked like and when they appea red. We possess full-fledged conspiracy theory texts only since the 16th c entury. While examples may have existed already in Antiquity\, we do not p ossess any textual evidence for them. The lecture tries to develop an expl anation for why conspiracy theories emerged only at this point in European history. In order to do so\, it is necessary to distinguish between conju rations\, any kind of revolts\, conspiracies and conspiracy theories. We w ill show how their coming into being is linked to the emergence of the ‘ Information Public Sphere’\, as a by-product of the early inter-state di plomatic communication (which has\, first\, little to do with the later fa mous ‘Enlightenment Public Sphere’)\, and how those narratives filled in where knowledge gaps existed. In a hasty run through history\, we will distinguish several phases or ‘epochs’ of Conspiracy (theory) communic ation. Finally\, we will ask how Democracy comes in: ‘Real’ democracie s were practiced rather nowhere after Ancient Europe\, and were rare even during the 19th century. So\, in pre-modern times\, often it was ‘democr acy’ or ‘democrats’ that were ‘conspiring’ against the good orde r of the commonwealth – not vice versa.\n\nThe event will be followed by a wine reception.\n LOCATION:SG2\, CRASSH Alison Richard Building\, 7 West Road\, Cambridge\, CB3 9DT END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR