Englisches Seminar

Prof. Dr. Michael Butter

Contact

michael.butterspam prevention@uni-tuebingen.de
Phone: (+49) (0)7071-29-77341

Office Hours: Wednesday, 11-13 h
In person or via Zoom.
Please sign up for a time slot via this link
Room: 558, Wilhelmstr. 50, 72074 Tübingen

Michael Butter has been Professor of American Literary and Cultural History at the University of Tübingen since 2014. He received his PhD from the University of Bonn in 2007 and his Habilitation from the University of Freiburg in 2012. He is the author of six monographs: The Epitome of Evil: Hitler in American Fiction, 1939–2002 (New York: Palgrave, 2009), Plots, Designs, and Schemes: American Conspiracy Theories from the Puritans to the Present (Berlin/Boston: de Gruyter, 2014), Der »Washington-Code«: Zur Heroisierung amerikanischer Präsidenten, 1775-1865 (Göttingen: Wallstein, 2016), “Nichts ist, wie es scheint”: Über Verschwörungstheorien (Berlin: Suhrkamp, 2018), a German introduction to conspiracy theories aimed at a general audience, which was translated into Polish, Portoguese and English as The Nature of Conspiracy Theories (London: Polity, 2020), From Panem to the Pandemic: An Introduction to Cultural Studies (Tübingen: Narr, 2023), a textbook for first-year students, and Die Alarmierten: Was Verschwörungstheorien anrichten (Berlin: Suhrkamp, 2025).

Michael Butter is the Principal Investigator of the ERC project “Populism and Conspiracy Theory” (PACT) and one of the PI's of the CHANSE project “Researching Europe, Digitalisation and Conspiracy Theory” (REDACT).

His expertise is frequently sought by media outlets in Germany, Europe and North America, and he has contributed op-eds to, among others, Die Zeit, FAZ, Der Spiegel and The Conversation. Michael Butter is a member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. He serves on the advisory board of veritas, which offers counseling for people affected by conspiracy theory. In July 2021, he was awarded the Tübingen Prize for Knowledge Communication.

Chair Prof. Dr. Michael Butter

Full CV

Research Interests

Michael Butter’s research interests include conspiracy theories and populism, the colonial period and the Early Republic, popular culture, the poetics of contemporary TV shows, the construction of heroes and their cultural functions, American culture after 9/11, and the literary and cultural history of tennis.

Teaching

Winter Semester 2025/2026

Summer Semester 2025

Publications

  • Die Alarmierten: Was Verschwörungstheorien anrichten. Berlin: Suhrkamp, 2025.
  • (with Eva Barlösius et al.) “Wissenschaftsreflexion: What is it? What is the need for it? Contemporary challenges for studies in science”. Minerva (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11024-025-09601-2
  • “Rev. of Michael Hagemeister, The Perennial Conspiracy Theory: Reflections on the History of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. London: Routledge, 2022.” Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas 72.3: (2024): 504-06.
  • (ed. with Katerina Hatzikidi, Constanze Jeitler, Giacomo Loperfido, and Lili Turza) Populism and Conspiracy Theory: Case Studies and Theoretical Perspectives. London/New York: Routledge, 2025. View online
  • “Introduction.” Populism and Conspiracy Theory: Case Studies and Theoretical Perspectives. Ed. Michael Butter et al. London/New York: Routledge, 2025. 1-11.
  • (ed.) Conspiracy Theories. Focus of American Book Review 45.1 (2024). https://americanbookreview.org/focus-conspiracy-spring-2024/
  • “Introduction.” American Book Review 45.1 (2024): 1-4. https://americanbookreview.org/focus-conspiracy-spring-2024/
  • “Rev. of Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2019.” American Book Review 45.1 (2024): 22-26.

Complete List of Publications

Recent Conference Presentations & Talks

  • „Die Alarmierten: Was Verschwörungstheorien anrichten“ (VHS Herrenberg, 17. November 2025)
  • „Die Alarmierten: Was Verschwörungstheorien anrichten“ (Atlantische Akademie, online, 12. November 2025)
  • „Umgang mit Verschwörungstheorien“ (Bundesakademie für öffentliche Verwaltung, online, 22. Oktober 2025)
  • „Verschwörungstheorien – eine Gefahr für die Demokratie“ (Kulturzentrum K3, Winterlingen, 16. Oktober 2025)
  • „Das Comeback der Verschwörungstheorien in der US-Politik“ (Deutsch-Amerikanisches Zentrum/James-F.-Byrnes-Institut e.V. Suttgart, 30. September 2025)
  • „Ein kritischer Blick auf die Rezeption von Verschwörungserzählungen in Deutschland und deren Präventionsarbeit“ (Treffen des Bundesnetzwerks Verschwörungserzählungen, Solingen, 29.-30. September 2025)
  • „Vorbote für Deutschland? Der Blick in die USA“ (Seminar „Verschwörungserzählungen“ der Georg-von-Vollmar-Akademie (online), 12. August 2025)
  • „Visualizing Conspiracy“ (keynote speaker at the conference „Visual Cultures of Conspiracy Theories“, Marburg, June 25-27, 2025)
  • „The Right against Rights? Backlash against LGBTQ+ and Women* in the USA and Russia“ (panel discussion with Misza Czerniak and Aleksandra Konarzewska, Tübingen, June 24, 2025)
  • „Verschwörungstheorien und Demokratie“ (Ringvorlesung „In Zeiten des Wandels – Zukunft gestalten“ der Regionalgruppe Tübingen-Reutlingen der Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, Tübingen, 23. Juni 2025)
  • „‚The election was rigged‘: Zur neuen Normalität von Verschwörungstheorien“ (Ringvorlesung „Umbrüche, Aufbrüche: Wie entstehen neue Normalitäten?“, Tübingen, 17. Juni 2025)
  • „Verschwörungstheorien – eine Gefahr für die Demokratie“, Kammertag der Steuerberaterkammer Stuttgart, Künzelsau, 23. Mai 2025)
  • „Conspiracy Theories as (Counter-)Knowledge“ („Symposium des Fachbereichs Molekulare Medizin „Double Helix, Double Talk – Illuminating Truth in an Era of Misinformation“, Tübingen, 10. Mai 2025)
  • „Amerika – zwischen Angst und Hoffnung“ (Winnenden, 5. Mai 2025)
  • „Verschwörungstheorien als alternative Wissensform“ (Ringvorlesung „Wo beginnt Wissenschaft? Perspektiven der Tübinger Altertumswissenschaften“, Tübingen, 29. April 2025)
  • „Populism, Conspiracy Theory, and Democracy“ (conference and workshop „Democracy Disfigured or Reconfigured? Political Imaginaries, Popular Participation, and Social Change in the Americas“, Tübingen, February 20-21, 2025)
  • „Verschwörungstheorien als populistische (Gegen)Erzählungen“ (Vorlesungsreihe „Die Macht von Überzeugungen. Weltanschauungen, Ideologien, Glaubenssysteme“ des Studiums generale der Universität Mainz, 25. Januar 2025)
  • „Conspiracy Theories/Conspiracy Narratives“ (Zentrum für Erzählforschung der Bergischen Universität Wuppertal, 23. Januar 2025)
  • „Lasst uns nicht in die Irre führen – Verschwörungstheorien unserer Zeit“ (Epiphaniasemphang der Probstei Salzgitter, 6. Januar 2025)

Recent Media Appearances

  • “Die Macht der Verschwörung: Warum wir Ursachen statt Menschen bekämpfen müssen” (Interview bei Radioeins (rbb), 18. November 2025)
  • “Nirgends haben Leute so viel Angst vor Verschwörungstheorien wie in Deutschland” (Interview in Der Freitag, 11. November 2025)
  • “ICE, No kings, Showdown auf amerikanischen Straßen? ‘Zustände wie in Nordirland möglich’" (Interview im “F.A.Z. Podcast für Deutschland” auf Spotify, 22.Oktober 2025)
  • “Verschwörungstheorien und was sie anrichten” (Interview in Menschen Machen Medien, 16. Oktober 2025)
  • “Verschwörungstheorien - Gespräch mit michael Butter” (Interview im NDR, 3. Oktober 2025)
  • “Die US-Demokratie erodiert ähnlich wie die Weimarer Republik” (Interview in der Zeit, 21. September, 2025)
  • “Trauerfeier für Charlie Kirk – Stilisierung zum Heiligen der MAGA-Bewegung” (Interview im SWR, 19. September, 2025)
  • “Verschwörungserzählungen” (Interview in der WDR-5-Redezeit, 11. September 2025)
  • “Der Fall Epstein: Wie Trump vom Jäger zum Gejagten wurde” (Interview bei ntv Nachrichten, 4. September 2025)
  • „‚Nichts ist, wie es scheint‘ - Verschwörungstheorien in Geschichte und Gegenwart“ (Interview bei Dieter und Dennis im Podcast “Geschichte nach der Schule”, auf Podcast.de, 11. Juli 2025)
  • “Falsche Akten befeuern Theorien um die Ermordung Kennedys” (Interview bei ntv Nachrichten, 15. April 2025)
  • “Bayern 2 Tagesgespräch: 73 Tage Trump: Wie hat sich ihr Blick auf Amerika verändert?” (Interview beim Bayerischen Rundfunk, 04. April 2025)
  • "Verschwörungstheorien: Symptome” (Interview bei Niklas Titgemeyer im Podcast “Die neue Ungewissheit. Der Podcast für demokratiegefährende Phänomene”, auf Spotify, 31. Januar 2025)

Featured Podcasts:

Published Books

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Current Projects

PACT-Project


The ERC-funded project “Populism and Conspiracy Theory (PACT)” investigates the significance of conspiracy theories for populist movements in four European countries and two in the Americas. The project is scheduled to run until September 2025. The PI, Michael Butter, and his team (one postdoc and four PhD students) will employ a combination of discourse analysis and ethnographic methods to study the connections between populism and conspiracy theories in online and offline discourses in Austria, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Brazil and the United States. Michael Butter will focus on right- and left-wing populism during the 2020 presidential election campaigns.

Listen to Podcast Series imPACT: Dialoge 

REDACT-Project


The CHANSE-funded project "Researching Europe, Digitilisation and Conspiracy Theory (REDACT)" analyzes how digitalization shapes the form, content, and consequences of conspiracy theories, including online sociality and offline actions and effects. Rather than see digitalisation as a process that has universal outcomes, or conspiracy theories as the same over space and time, REDACT considers online conspiracy theories and counter-publics in different European regions (Western Europe, Central Europe, the Baltics, and the Balkans) in order to make robust and nuanced recommendations about conspiracy theories — a particularly durable form of mis- and disinformation — for policy makers, media regulators, fact-checking and extremism-monitoring organisations, as well as the internet companies themselves.

Completed Projects

  • Between 2016-2020, The COST Action “Comparative Analysis of Conspiracy Theories” synthesized and moved forward the European research on conspiracy theories. The network comprised more than 160 scholars from 40 countries and over a dozen disciplines. In March 2020, the Routledge Handbook for Conspiracy Theories was published which provides the most comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon to date. Additionally, recommendations for dealing with conspiracy theories, educational material and an extended bibliography of academic research on conspiracy theories have been made available for the project website.

  • In 2016 and 2017 Michael Butter worked on a general introduction to conspiracy theories which was published to great acclaim in 2018. The updated and revised English translation was published by Polity Press in fall 2020.

  • Between 2012 and 2016, Michael Butter was a member of the Collaborative Research Center “Heroes – Heroizations – Heroisms” at the University of Freiburg and directed a project on “New Washingtons? The Heroization of American Presidents from the Revolution to Reconstruction.” He wrote a short monograph about this topic as well as articles on the heroization of William Henry Harrison and Donald Trump. Another important outcome of the project is a database of nearly 2,000 poems written on American presidents between 1789 and 1865.

  • Between 2009 and 2012, Michael Butter worked on the history of conspiracy theories in American culture from the Puritans to the present. The resulting monograph, which focuses on the 19th century, was published in 2014.

  • Between 2005 and 2008, Michael Butter was a member of the network “The Futures of (European) American Studies,” which discussed possible venues for the discipline in the 21st century. Funded by the German Research Council, the project organized a number of conferences and edited a collection of essays.

  • Between 2004 and 2007, Michael Butter pursued a PhD project that investigated how American literature employs the figure of Adolf Hitler to negotiate genuinely American concerns. The project resulted in a monograph published in 2009 and a number of articles on literary and visual representations of Hitler, Nazism and the Holocaust and the genre of alternate history in which they frequently occur.