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Yuliya Filippovska, Ph.D. is a 2024 graduate of the PHD Program in Leadership and Change at Antioch University.

Yuliya Filippovska at her Dissertation Defense.

From L-R: Dr. Christopher Voparil, Committee Chair, Dr. Nader Robert Shabahangi, Committee Member, Dr. Jennifer Raymond, Committee Member

Dissertation Committee

  • Christopher Voparil, PhD, Committee Chair
  • Jennifer Raymond, PhD, Committee Member
  • Nader Robert Shabahangi, PhD, Committee Member

Keywords

false information, propaganda, fake news, misinformation, disinformation, narratives, empowerment, fighting false information, facts, truth

Document Type

Dissertation

Publication Date

2024

Abstract

Fighting false information, propaganda, open lies, rumors, misinformation, and disinformation by attacking it directly and challenging it is the dominant strategy for dealing with false beliefs (Lazer et al., 2018; Maseri et al., 2020; Van Bavel et al., 2021), and it is an important one. Refuting falsity is crucial. At the same time, there are instances when fighting false information does not work (Ardèvol-Abreu et al., 2020; McIntyre, 2018; Van Bavel et al., 2021). One of the reasons is that it denies another’s worldview, belief systems, and, as a result, their identity and even right to exist. Searching for alternative strategies for dealing with falsity, this study used qualitative research methodology and conducted three focus group discussions. My research findings show that identifying and framing a narrative behind falsity shifts the dynamic from facts to interaction, from fighting to beginning relationships to that narrative, and potentially people who stand for it, consciously or unconsciously. It allows one to find a belief system and a worldview of the other, and to engage and interact with it. Thus, there is a shift from finding who is telling the truth or lies to providing space for various belief systems and worldviews to interact with each other. Making this shift changes the power dynamic and empowers human beings to stop being simply victims of falsity and gain agency. My research also shows that there is a high need for talent and skills to hold polarities and different narratives, allowing them to co-exist and not deny each other, facilitating unpredictable and unimaginable ways to interact with each other, and bring more flow into communication instead of distancing even further. Finding narratives behind falsity and holding the opposite stories allow one to see falsity as not just an absolute evil, but potentially meaningful, transforming it into an opportunity for community-building processes and for people to work on different narratives together before existing splits, greater distancing and polarizations grow into yet another violence and wars. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

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Yuliya Filippovska

ORCID: #0009-0003-3311-2586

Yuliya Filippovska is a deep democracy facilitator and a coach. She works with individuals, groups, organizations and communities for over 15 years. Her experience is in diverse fields of corporate communications, startup business development, Hub Kyiv entrepreneurship network building, and organizing international events like TEDxKyiv, media, art and animation festivals. She is interested in field research, facilitating tensions and conflicts, multi-stakeholder conversations, building relationships, teams and communities. Yuliya has Bachelor’s degree in business administration, Master’s in journalism, and PhD in leadership and change. Her research interest is in facilitating public conversations and relationships between polarities, different narratives, “true” and “false” in complex systems and information space. She is a learner, passionate about relationships, self-development, empowering leaders, turning challenges into a soil for growth, and facilitating multi-stakeholder processes. She co-leads the Deep Democracy Institute Ukraine, an autonomous hub for learning and practicing ProcessWork and Deep Democracy. Originally from Kyiv, due to the war in Ukraine, Yuliya currently lives in Geneva with her six-year-old son.

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