Calum Matheson, PhD

1408 Cathedral of Learning

Office Hours: By Appointment

412-383-5019

matheson@pitt.edu

412-624-1878

Download CV >

Education

PhD, University of North Carolina

Biography

Calum Lister Matheson is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication and a graduate of the Pittsburgh Psychoanalytic Center. Dr. Matheson’s scholarly work is informed by traditions in rhetoric, media studies, psychoanalysis, and cultural studies. His first book, Desiring the Bomb: Communication, Psychoanalysis, and the Atomic Age examined the cultural impact of nuclear weapons in language, games, literature, and infrastructure with special attention to the ways that we have sought to discuss topics that defy the limits of language, such as human extinction, mysticism, and the end of the world.

 

Dr. Matheson’s current research is focused on how communities stick together in the wake of cultural and political fragmentation. He has written a series of articles and book chapters on conspiracy theorists, Sovereign Citizens, doomsday preppers, Internet subcultures, and the QAnon movement. His current book project investigates the structural similarities between vastly different discursive communities from Appalachian serpent-handling churches to Sandy Hook denialists and white supremacists.

 

Dr. Matheson teaches COMMRC 1117: Propaganda and Misinformation at the undergraduate level. This class explores propaganda, misinformation, and disinformation from a multidisciplinary perspective, including their historical development and current prevalence, using primary texts and academic commentaries on topics such as conspiracy theories, hoaxes, scams, motivated reasoning, and scientific distortions. At the graduate level, Dr. Matheson has taught classes focusing on psychoanalysis, rhetoric, and theories of language, such as COMMRC 2220: Readings in Critical Theory: Lacan. In addition to classroom teaching, Dr. Matheson has given many public invited talks in the Pittsburgh community about contemporary media and disinformation, participated in Beatrice Institute programming, and consulted on speechwriting and political campaigns. Prior to his appointment as department chair, Dr. Matheson was also the Director of the William Pitt Debating Union. He remains active in service opportunities at the department, school, and national level, primarily focused on inclusion, diversity, junior faculty development, and undergraduate education.