Addressing Anthropologies of Placelessness to Fight Disinformation: An Alternative Educational Response

This study highlights that educational responses to disinformation should shift from the preventive and compensatory focus of epistemological approaches to an anthropological approach that addresses the spatial dynamics underlying the viral spread of disinformation. A mixed-methods approach, including reflexive cartographies, elicitation interviews, the Ryff Psychological Well-Being Scale, and a word-association activity, is used to explore how 222 VET students from Italy, France, and Greece perceive their relationship to space. Findings from all research tools indicate that students across the three countries, with similar socio-demographic characteristics, experience aspects of placelessness. These results, combined with the power dynamics inherent in disinformation ecologies, suggest that the viral spread of disinformation may be linked to the appeal that disinformation ecologies hold for people experiencing placelessness. The importance of effectively addressing disinformation for democracy, and the challenges facing current educational responses, indicate the need to address the limitations of this study to further explore the relationship between placelessness and disinformation.