You the readers will complete the list. The Castrochavismo conspiracy theory

Abstract

The study of conspiracy theories has often taken a normative perspective. Recently, sociology and cultural studies have argued for a neutral view of conspiracy theories, urging for a nuanced understanding of conspiracy theories. Building on a growing body of scholarship addressing conspiracy theories in relational terms, this article considers the advantages of analyzing conspiracy theories as controversies or issues, as formulated in Science and Technology Studies. Our primary focus is on the political uses of castrochavismo and how the digital objects are shared and reconfigured, shaping the dynamics of the issue. The core conceptual premise is that conspiracy theories are formed as particular cases of controversies, where the factions in dispute deploy repertories, and we identify the empiricist and ironizing ones. Drawing on a data collection from Twitter, we present the case of study of castrochavismo, with a particular focus in the Colombian electoral cycle. The case highlights the importance and challenges when analyzing a conspiracy theory from the lens of controversy studies, promoting a symetrical, non-normative, research of the topic.