{"id":27514,"date":"2026-04-02T14:45:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T18:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/history\/?p=27514"},"modified":"2026-04-02T15:01:57","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T19:01:57","slug":"carleton-university-history-professor-jennifer-evans-is-studying-how-conspiracy-theories-evolve-and-why-they-resonate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/history\/2026\/carleton-university-history-professor-jennifer-evans-is-studying-how-conspiracy-theories-evolve-and-why-they-resonate\/","title":{"rendered":"Carleton University history professor Jennifer Evans is studying how conspiracy theories evolve and why they resonate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Carleton University history professor Jennifer Evans is studying how conspiracy theories evolve and why they resonate\n <\/h1>\n \n \n \n\n

Article By: Ahmed Minhas\u00a0<\/strong>(he\/him\/his), MPC<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Communications Officer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Department of University Communications<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carleton University<\/p>\n\n\n <\/header>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

Conspiracy theories aren\u2019t new. For centuries, they\u2019ve been used to target groups cast as outsiders, from anti-Semitic myths in Europe to misogynistic and xenophobic narratives that frame social change as a threat. These stories have been used to divide societies and consolidate power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, those same dynamics are playing out in a digital world where misinformation spreads faster, reaches wider audiences and shapes public discourse in ways that undermine trust and threaten democratic institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Professor<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Carleton University history<\/a> professor Jennifer Evans<\/a> is studying how conspiracy theories evolve and why they resonate. Leading the Populist Publics<\/a> project with Carleton communications<\/a> professor Sandra Robinson<\/a>, Evans is tracing conspiracy narratives across history to understand when they emerge, who they target and how they adapt to new media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her goal is to help people develop the critical skills needed to recognize and resist conspiratorial thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Historian\u2019s View on Modern Conspiracy<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We can\u2019t understand conspiracy theories without looking at how information circulates online, according to Evans.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cThe biggest change is social media,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cOur belief that we understand how it works because we\u2019re users is harmful. The mechanisms aren\u2019t transparent and it takes sophisticated tools to interpret what we see.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People feel like they have a window into what others think online, but they\u2019re seeing a curated perspective shaped by algorithms, influencers and bad actors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evans\u2019 research shows that conspiracy theories tend to surface at moments of upheaval \u2014 economic instability, pandemics, political disruption \u2014 when people are trying to make sense of rapid change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Professor<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cConspiracy theories are best understood as having both irrational and rational elements,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cPeople are trying to find answers and language to interpret massive changes around them and they land on alternative explanations that make sense to them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Those explanations fill gaps left by institutions struggling to communicate clearly or quickly. During COVID-19, for example, shifting guidance, confusing messaging and gaps in public communication created fertile ground for misinformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fionnuala Braun<\/a> \u2014 a Carleton master\u2019s student working with Evans who studies trust and misinformation in the public health sphere \u2014 says conspiracies often begin with uncertainty, not ideology.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cPeople are drawn to conspiracy theories when official sources are confusing,\u201d says Braun.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cWhen they feel they\u2019re not being told the full story, they\u2019ll turn to unofficial and unreliable sources.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click the Link for the full article When Hate Goes Viral: Countering the Power of Conspiracy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Conspiracy theories aren\u2019t new. For centuries, they\u2019ve been used to target groups cast as outsiders, from anti-Semitic myths in Europe to misogynistic and xenophobic narratives that frame social change as a threat. These stories have been used to divide societies and consolidate power. Today, those same dynamics are playing out in a digital world where […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":520,"featured_media":27515,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/520"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27514"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27520,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27514\/revisions\/27520"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}