Subversive Semantics in Political and Cultural Discourse: The Production of Popular Knowledge

The large-scale use of semantic transfer and inversion as rhetorical tactics is particularly prevalent in right-wing discourses and populist »alternative knowledge« production. The contributors to this volume analyze processes of re-semanticizing received meanings, effectually re-coding those meanings. To what extent do rhetorical maneuvers serve to establish new and powerful belief systems beyond rational and democratic control? In addition to the New Right and contemporary conspiracy narratives, the contributors examine the discursive fields around conceptions of human nature and the deep past, population politics, gender conceptions, use of land, identity politics, nationhood, and cultural heritage.