Rumpelstiltskin, Kung Fu Panda, Jacques Derrida, and Conspiracy Theory: The Role and Function of Secrecy in Conspiracy Narrative and Practice

Abstract

The article argues that where secrecy and secrets are key aspects of conspiracy theory narratives and practice, the genealogies of the/a secret have not been well understood. We argue that two forms of the secret, one a premodern notion of the secret as truth and revelation, the other a post-Derridean non-secret, inform two distinct forms and functions of contemporary conspiracy practice.