Dr Maria Ines Palleiro's lecture on the rhetoric of threat in belief narratives on December 15, 2016

On December 15th at 12.15 Dr Maria Ines Palleiro (National Council for Scientific Research, Buenos Aires University, Argentina) will deliver lecture "Rhetoric of threat in belief narratives: from personal experiences to political folklore". The lecture will take place in von Bock Building (Ülikooli 16) room no. 214. All are welcome!

Abstract of the lecture:

The aim is to identify the distinctive features of such rhetoric of threat, dealing with metaphoric identifications with political leaders and with a synechdotic logic of external or global dangers caused to individuals or local identities, that can be identified both in personal narratives, in urban legends and in political discourses. I will examine a personal narrative dealing with cancer which affects common citizens, an urban legend dealing with AIDS, and virtual narratives regarding cancer that has affected Latin American political leaders. My main hypothesis is that there is a thread that connects all these narratives, connected with a synechdotic logic which is a distinctive feature of "rhetoric of infection" connected with conspiracy theories.