The Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life (CITAP) recently published a Critical Disinformation Studies syllabus to prompt disinformation researchers to rethink many of the assumptions in this nascent field.

The syllabus draws from historical case studies—Japanese incarceration, the Welfare Queen, the Central Park 5, AIDS/HIV—to examine how the state, the media, and the political establishment regularly use disinformation to reinforce inequality.

Each section includes recommended readings, with some offering audiovisual material and primary sources. The intended audience is graduate students, faculty, and researchers interested in disinformation, but it can be adapted for undergraduate audiences as well.

The syllabus is the work CITAP Principal Researcher Alice Marwick, CITAP Postdoctoral Research Fellow Rachel Kuo, CITAP Graduate Research Fellow Shanice Jones Cameron, and Data & Society Sociotechnical Security Researcher Moira Weigel, with support from both CITAP and Data & Society.

Read more and download the full syllabus for free on the CITAP website.

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