[Commlist] Call for Submissions: Rhetoric of the Weird

Drs. Calum Lister Matheson (University of Pittsburgh) and Jarrod 
Atchison (Wake Forest University) seek submissions for an edited volume 
on discourses of knowledge constructed as weird, fringe, and strange. We 
are particularly interested in three “C’s:” cults, conspiracy theories, 
and cryptozoology.

The advent of the Internet did not create a single global culture or way 
of thinking. Instead, it fertilized the seeds of a million subcultures 
and communities of belief. Amidst persistent discussions of our 
“post-truth” condition and the demise of symbolic efficiency, conspiracy 
theories, obscure religious movements, and pseudoscience are all more 
visible than they have ever been—whether or not they are truly more 
common. All of these are discursive communities formed, sustained, and 
propagated rhetorically, inseparable from their media, whether it be 
text, images, music, or even sartorial choices.

This volume explores a broad range of discourses involving communities 
whose beliefs and ways of knowing lie outside of what was once described 
as mainstream. Potential topics might include: Bigfoot researchers, 
QAnon offshoots, spiritual mediums, Flat Earthers, targeted individuals, 
NXIVM, Pepemancers/Kek Cultists, transvestigators, Sandy Hook deniers, 
New Age crystal advocates, Humanoid Crawler witnesses, Mothman 
believers, neopagans, occultists, and followers of David Icke’s reptile 
alien belief.

The purpose of this study is not to simply condemn these groups or 
dismiss them as cranks, but to study their rhetoric as a way to deepen 
our understanding of them. Potential questions include: How do 
conspiracy theorists persuade new believers? How do cults convince their 
members to put their faith in leaders? How does the broader media 
environment influence what conspiracy theorists believe? How does 
stigmatization contribute to group identity? How is the accusation of 
“pseudoscience” used to discredit subjugated knowledges? How do race and 
racism figure in conspiracy beliefs and efforts to disrupt them? How 
does colonialist epistemology influence the rhetoric of cryptozoology? 
How to conspiracy theorists, cryptozoologists, and others employ the 
conventions of academic discourse for their own purpose? How do terms 
like “cult” and “conspiracy theory" reinforce normative conceptions of 
knowledge?

Upon receiving sufficient chapter drafts, the co-editors will seek a 
contract with the University of Alabama Press with whom they have 
already discussed this proposal, and/or other university presses.

Interested authors should send abstracts of no more than 500 words to 
(weirdrhetoric /at/ gmail.com) <mailto:(weirdrhetoric /at/ gmail.com)> before *April 
1, 2026*. If selected, full submissions should be 8,000 words in length 
including footnotes and references. Authors will have an opportunity to 
read each other’s drafts to put their work in conversation before a 
final text is submitted to the press.

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