Since the early 2000s, Georgia’s EU aspirations and democratic commitments were largely uncontested by both political elites and the wider public. However, a noticeable shift in official rhetoric beginning in 2023 has been interpreted by certain groups within Georgian society as indicative of an authoritarian turn. Since then, sustained anti-government demonstrations, particularly in Tbilisi, have exposed and deepened societal divisions, while public discourse has become increasingly shaped by controversial theories promoted by political elites.
How are these tensions shaped and mediated by the circulation of contested knowledge, and how do these tensions relate to broader global and regional transformations, such as the rise of populism and authoritarianism, the crisis of democracy, or the spread of conspiracy theories ‘’from the top’’?
Situated within the politically turbulent space of Tbilisi, the project examines the circulation of knowledge through various human and non-human mediators — including intellectuals, politicians, activists, digital technologies, media, and urban landmarks (such as squares and monuments) — as a complex choreography of embodied suspicion and conviction. Using an ethnographic approach, the project seeks to answer: How are space, bodies, and timing organised around the (dis)belief in specific ideas and information? What political meanings are embedded in and conveyed through this circulation of knowledge? And, how do certain narratives and theories become normalised or pathologised within a politically fraught urban landscape?
