Date of Award
4-15-2010
Degree Type
Closed Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Religious Studies
First Advisor
Kathryn McClymond - Committee Chair
Second Advisor
Gary Laderman - Committee Member
Third Advisor
Jonathan Herman - Committee Member
Abstract
In this essay, I examine the ways in which new myths were made of Barack Obama in the months leading up to, and immediately following, the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election at three sites of cultural production: a UFO-based religious movement historically grounded in the black Israelite religious tradition, TIME magazine’s 2008 “Person of the Year” edition, and Sean Hannity’s “The Real Barack Obama” airing on the FOX News network. I argue that, while the content of these three Obama-myths varies considerable, the ways in which these myths are constructed, and function, are in fact rather similar.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/1331274
Recommended Citation
Smith, Kenneth Paul, "Mythmaking from the Fringe to the Center: The Appropriation of Barack Obama in an Emergent UFO- Based Religious Movement and in Mainstream American Culture." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2010.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/1331274