Date of Award

Fall 2023

Degree Type

Open Access Master's Thesis

Degree Name

History, MA

Program

School of Arts and Humanities

Advisor/Supervisor/Committee Chair

Matthew Bowman

Dissertation or Thesis Committee Member

Nicola Denzey Lewis

Terms of Use & License Information

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Rights Information

© 2023 Indra Jean Louise Chapman

Keywords

Anthropology, Anthropology of religion, Conspiracy theory, Mormon studies, Mormonism, QAnon

Subject Categories

Religion

Abstract

QAnon and other far-right conspiracies are significant fixtures within contemporary American culture. Through a series of interviews with two highly engaged QAnon conspiracy theorists who are also members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I analyzed QAnon as an epistemic formation characterized by critique of social conditions, modern standards of rigor in research, and a highly accelerated online information economy. Framing my subjects’ participation in QAnon culture alongside their Latter-day Saint identity allowed for further investigation into dynamics of competing epistemic authority and the role of Mormon identity in shaping conspiracy theory. Finally, I compare the epistemology of conspiracy theory to that of academic research, noting similarities and highlighting the role of legitimating authority within academic institutions.

ISBN

9798342762847

Included in

Religion Commons

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