How Knowledge Shapes Reality

How does social reality come into being, and what role does knowledge play in this process? These questions are at the heart of the interdisciplinary colloquium series Perspectives on Multiple Forms of Knowledge and Realities, which brings together current theoretical and empirical perspectives from the social sciences. The lecture series takes place every Wednesday during the summer semester at the University of Bayreuth.

26.04.2026

The focus is on processes of knowledge circulation, stabilisation and legitimisation, and their significance for constructions of meaning and reality.

The series addresses key contemporary issues, including digitalisation, artificial intelligence, fake news and conspiracy theories, which increasingly challenge established orders of knowledge. Speakers from Germany, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and the Netherlands discuss these topics from perspectives in the sociology of knowledge, political studies and cultural studies.

The lectures take place on Wednesdays from 6 to 8 pm in the FZA (S 145 / S 146). They are held in either German or English and are followed by an open discussion and an informal get-together.

Dates

29 April: Dr. Andreas Anton (IGPP Freiburg) (exceptionally in room S 91 GW I)
Unreal Realities: Towards a Sociology of Knowledge of Conspiracy Theories
13 May: Dr. des. Pilar Peralta (LMU Munich) Defending Livelihoods and Environments: Territorial Care and Everyday Lives of Women Leaders in Colombia (co-hosted with the Colloquium on Latin America)
27 May: Prof. Linsey McGoey (University of Essex) Oracular Power beyond Left vs Right
10 June: Prof. Elisio Macamo (University of Basel) Radical Silence in an Age of Infinite Speech
24 June: Sebastian Klimasch (University of Trier) Conspiracy – (De-)Legitimation – Social Closure: A Sociology of Knowledge Perspective
8 July: Dr. Jaron Harambam (University of Amsterdam) The Ir/Rationality of Conspiracy Theories: Why These Alternative Truth Claims Animate Some and Upset Many

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