The Global Rise of Post-Truth: Literature, Linguistics, Politics, Technology

According to Time magazine, “following the 2O24 U.S. presidential election results, it would appear that truth is on life support.” Once again, we find ourselves in the age of post-truth. As Lee Mclntyre argues in his seminal 2018 book, no single term can fully capture the complexity of the pervasive phenomenon that has been called post-truth. Yet, a proliferation of expressions — spinning, bullshitting, willful ignorance, alternative facts, misinformation, lake news, and outright lying — have emerged to describe the social and political discourse of our age. Despite the risk of oversimplification, thèse terms point to an urgent issue both within academia and beyond: the erosion of Western liberal democracy (Sim 2019), and the exponential rise of Al-generated content.

If the global ascendancy of post-truth endangers the socio-political foundations of democratic societies, how can we counter its divisive, ideological, and conspiratorial effects?

This conference seeks to explore the impact of post-truth across literature, linguistics, politics, technology (including Al and audiovisual studies), and related fields. We airr. to investigate how disciplines grounded in textuality can develop epistemic tools and interpretive frameworks to better understand and resist thèse polarizing dynamics.

Our focus includes the various means of producing and communicating (mis)informatior and (post)truth, spanning traditional media like books and journals to digital platforms, social media, and Al-generated narratives such as those created by ChatGPT and other Large Language Models. While post-truth discourses are often seen as inherently detrimental, this conference will also examine whettier they might holô posltïve or reparative potential. For instance, in the age of “Facebook democre   !Marichal 2012), could literary, audiovisual, and Al-generated texts foster socio-political and epistemological awareness by challenging lake news and science-denial? Might they promote new modes of literary engagement (Andersen 2O17) or interrogate anthropocentric assumptions in gaming culture (Caracciolo 2O22)?

Through an interdisciplinary approach, we aim to situate post-truth not as a purely contemporary phenomenon but as one that emerges from a traceable past and extends toward an uncertain future. We invite scholars from diverse fields and disciplines to reflect on these pressing questions and contribute to a deeper understanding of post-truth‘s implications.

Abstract Guidelines

Please send your abstract of no more than 250 words, together with a short bio of about 1 00 words, for a 20-minute presentation to posttruthconference20256gmail com. The deadline for submissions is March 20, 2025. Notifications of acceptance will be sent out by April 30, 2025. Since the conference will be held in English, Italian, and French, abstracts in all three languages are welcome.

Conference Fee

The registration fee will be €70 for non-tenured faculty members and PhD candidates, and G130 for tenured faculty members.

Venue and Dotes

The Conference will be held at the Department of European, American and Intercultural Studies (SEAI) of the Sapienza University of Rome (Marco Polo Building, Circonvallazione Tiburtina, 4) from 18 to 20 September 2025.