MA Research Paper

Degree

Master of Arts

Program

Sociology

Supervisor

Dr. Michael Gardiner

Delay of Publication

1

Abstract

The Flat Earth movement has gained substantial online publicity over the last few years as demands for the ‘truth’ in an era of post-truth are increasingly centered on anti-government and anti-expert regulations of knowledge. More individuals are self-identifying as Flat Earthers, or those who believe the earth is flat, on social media applications, such as Twitter. Flat Earthers self-represent on their Twitter accounts as ‘truth seekers’ or uncorrupted by knowledge authorities endorsed by the government, but in representing themselves this way, they mislead the public and further aggravate the public mistrust of the government, experts, and science. Flat Earthers claim to deconstruct the structures of authority governing knowledge production by producing their own, but in doing so, simply pervert, replicate, and recreate the very structures they are attempting to dismantle. The way Flat Earthers represent themselves and their beliefs on Twitter have greater implications for society, particularly trust in science and related government institutions.

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