Fojo Media Institute, Linnaeus University, Sweden
Andreas Önnerfors is a Swedish intellectual historian with interests spanning from eighteenth century secret societies to contemporary conspiracy culture.
In his research he has investigated European press history and over the past decade devoted his focus to right-wing populism and radicalization with contributions to the literature on the German PEGIDA-movement, terrorist manifestos and a textbook on enemy images, among others.
In 2024, Önnerfors published the monograph Konspirationsteorier. Meningsskapande berättelser I historia och nutid , ”Conspiracy Theories. Meaning-making narratives in history and present”(Nordic Academic Press) for which he was awarded a prize from the Swedish Academy.
Önnerfors work on conspiracy theories started with an investigation of meaning-making of conspiratorial belief in populism and terrorism. He joined the project Comparative Analysis of Conspiracy Theories in Europe (COMPACT) and contributed to the Routledge Handbook of Conspiracy Theories with a chapter (co-authered with Ute Caimans) on the visual culture of conspiracy theories. This ambition guides his current work, delving deeper into the aesthetic dimensions of conspiratorial expression.
Relevant publications
Önnerfors, A. (2024). “Singing Theories of Conspiracy – Anti-Corona Songs as Political Protest in Denmark and Sweden”, Økonomi & Politik, 2024(2), 19–33. doi: 10.7146/okonomi-og-politik. v2024i2.146413
Önnerfors, A. (2017). Between Breivik and PEGIDA: The Absence of Ideologues and
Leaders in the Contemporary European Far-Right”, Patterns of Prejudice 2017 vol. 51, no. 2, 159–175. https://doi.org/10.1080/0031322X.2017.1302642
Önnerfors, A. (2024). Konspirationsteorier. Meningsskapande berättelser i historia och nutid [”Conspiracy theories. Meaning-making narratives in history and in present time”], Lund: Nordic Academic Press, 2024.
Önnerfors, A. & André Krouwel (2021). A Continent of Conspiracies? Conspiracy Theories in and on Europe, London: Routledge, 282p.
Önnerfors, A. & Anastasiya Astapova, Eirikur Bergmann, Asbjørn Dyrendal, Annika
Rabo, Kasper Grotle Rasmussen, Hulda Þórisdóttir(2020).Conspiracy Theories and the Nordic Countries, London: Routledge, 134p.
Önnerfors, A. & Kristian Steiner(2018). Expressions of Radicalization: Global Politics, Processes and Practices, London: Springer International Publishing, 374p.
Önnerfors, A. and Ute Caumanns (2020). Conspiracy Theories and Visual Culture, in
Michael Butter and Peter Knight (eds.), Routledge Handbook of Conspiracy Theories, London: Routledge, 441–456.