Conspiracy & Sorcery, The Public & Expertise: Searching For Conceptualizations of Global Health in the Post-Truth Era

Abstract

The main purpose of this thesis is to address the following question: How do we begin to conceptualize the operations and practices of global health in the post-truth era? As we enter the post-truth era, the modern political age in which the public mistrusts experts and relies more on self-intuition to guide decision-making, it is not yet known how global health may be affected. This project is primarily literature-based and is an exercise in anthropological thinking. It uses anthropological works on knowledge, conspiracy, expertise, and sorcery, as well as works from the philosophy of science and history, an in-depth interview, some ethnographic field notes, newspaper articles, legal material, and other sources from health organizations to theoretically reconceptualize global health in a post-truth era. In Chapter 1, Chapter 2, and Chapter 3 respectively, the roles of conspiracy theory, experts, and the public are reanalyzed. The main findings of this thesis are that 1.) conspiracy theories deserve to be taken seriously 2.) global health authorities have a duty to present information to the public in a careful manner and 3.) systems of knowledge are unstable. As global health enters a post-truth era, academics and experts must pay special attention to how the current political order may affect global health practices.