Brainwashing, Conversion and Other Technologies of Belief Contagion

The seminar explores brainwashing and conversion in media discourses and practices, with a focus on Asia. Brainwashing and conversion are approached as contingent and exploitable figures spanning religious doctrine, forces of economic mobility, cross-cultural encounters, states of political subjectivity and gender and sex formations. Media forms include portrayals of brainwashing, control of networks and content, and ideas about media's hypnotic power.