Whispers in the Echo Chamber

Acknowledgments
Conspiracy Theory: A Folkloristic Introduction
Part I. Folkloric Approaches
1 What History Tells Us about QAnon
Bill Ellis
2 Interrogating “Conspiracism” and the Relationship between Historical and Contemporary Conspiracy
David Guignion
Theories
3 The SLAP Test and Conspiracy Theories about COVID-19, Bill Gates, and the Denver Airport
Jeannie Banks Thomas
4 QAnon in Four Pieces: Toward a Folkloric Understanding of a Superconspiracy
John Bodner
Part II. (De)Constructing Conspiracy Theories
5 Worse Than the Disease: The Mask Cartoons of Ben Garrison
Ian Brodie
6 Conspiracy Theories as a Form of Literature
Lisa M. Ruch
7 Computational Methods for the Study of Conspiracy Theories
Timothy R. Tangherlini, Shadi Shahsavari, Pavan Holur, and Vwani Roychowdhury
Part III. Circulation and Political Contexts
8 Conspiracy Thinking as Political Boundary Work: COVID-19 Conspiracy Narratives in Iran
Afsane Rezaei
9 I Tell My People the Truth: COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories and the Performance of Vernacular Authority in Religious Social Networks in Malawi
Anika Wilson
10 When a Demonology Meets Live-Action Role-Play: QAnon and the Creation of a Social Media Witch Scare
Sandra Grady
11 Can Narratives Counteract Conspiratorial Thinking?
Darin DeWitt and Matthew D. Atkinson

Contributors
Index