A Conversation with Professor Elise Wang

Asian American History 101

Welcome to Season 3, Episode 36. Today’s conversation is with the amazing Professor Elise Wang. We’re fascinated by conspiracy theories and how people twist themselves into logical knots to believe them. This led us to Dr. Wang’s very informative and engaging TEDx Talk on Why Some Conspiracy Theories Just Won’t Die. She is an Assistant Professor at Cal State Fullerton with focus areas that include literatures of late medieval England; Piers Plowman; legal history; punishment theory; premodern race and critical race theory; conspiracy narratives; and early global literatures. Elise’s first book, The Making of Felony Procedure in Middle English Literature, explores the theorization of guilt through how the literature of that day wrote about felony law. She’s also working on her second book already, Evidence as Style, in which she traces the internal logic of conspiracy theories. In our conversation, we talk about her professional journey, the logic of conspiracy theorists, the impact of the internet on conspiracy theories, her upcoming books, what conspiracy theories the API community should worry about, awkward moments caused by her research, and more. We highly recommend watching her TEDx Talk and her interview about Pizzagate on Jordan Klepper Fingers the Conspiracy. For previous episodes and information, please visit our site at https://asianamericanhistory101.libsyn.com or social media links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at [e-mail].