معرفی
Calum Lister Matheson is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication at the University of Pittsburgh. He holds a PhD from the University of North Carolina and is a graduate of the Pittsburgh Psychoanalytic Center. His research integrates rhetoric, media studies, psychoanalysis, and cultural studies to analyze cultural and political fragmentation, focusing on communities such as conspiracy theorists, Sovereign Citizens, doomsday preppers, and QAnon adherents. His 2019 book Desiring the Bomb explores nuclear-age anxieties, while his current work examines structural similarities between disparate groups like Appalachian serpent-handling churches and white supremacists.
Dr. Matheson teaches courses on propaganda (COMMRC 1117), critical theory (e.g., Lacanian studies), and argumentation. He actively engages in public outreach through lectures on disinformation and consults on political speechwriting. Prior roles include Director of the William Pitt Debating Union and leadership in diversity initiatives at the department and national levels.
His research spans topics like the rhetoric of extremisim, affective communication, and the intersection of science and subjectivity. He has published widely in journals such as Rhetoric Society Quarterly and Philosophy & Rhetoric, and contributes to public discourse via op-eds and online platforms like Lacan Salon.
