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Supervisors: Martin Coward and Andreja Zevnik

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Based on the assumption that discourses, in digital environments, can be legitimised through authoritative performance and visibility, I am investigating how and why cultural Marxism, the deep state conspiracy theory, the great replacement "theory," and white genocide have been legitimised in online spaces.

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My research makes at least five contributions to different theoretical debates.

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In terms of politics of truth, it offers a systematic analysis of how discourses can display strong affective investments and simultaneously be performed as objective truth, breaking the paradigm that objective truths are exempt from affects.

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When it comes to the the ways in which digital media intersects with issues of ethnicity, race, gender, and power, my project illuminates how the commodification of affects has ended up benefitting white, western and masculine supremacy.

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My project also makes a timely contribution to existing debates in world politics concerning the mainstreaming of racist, xenophobic, and sexist ideas, offering an explanation for the synergy between the alt-right and the broader far right.

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Concerning critical security studies, my project demonstrates how authoritative performances of alt-right conspiracy theories have reinforced the entitlement expressed by some white/western individuals (especially men) to use violence (verbal or physical).

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And, finally, by shedding light on belief and fantasies that underpin alt-right conspiracy theories, this project makes a contribution to cultural studies on conspiracy theories.