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Accepted Paper:
Why do people say rumors are true?
Saikou Oumar Sagnane
(Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies)
This paper describes how information circulates in the Guinean public administration. It then analyzes the uses and functions of rumors in the disruptive context of regime change.
Paper long abstract:
This paper challenges the grain of anti-rumor campaigns and information disorder management. It puts forward the idea that rumors end up being true. To support this presumption, which is part of Guinean common sense, this paper examines how information circulates within public administration offices, spaces in which voices are raised against rumor and informational disorder. Based on interviews and observational data collected in the field in September 2021, March 2022 and from September to December 2023, the paper's central argument postulates that rumor is a means of unveiling confidential, ignored or unknown information. The presentation begins by defining rumors as unassumed information, distinct from official information. It then describes the ways in which information circulates in the public administration resulting from the coup d'Etat of September 05, 2021. This description highlights the way in which the circulation of information feeds rumors, determines their uses and functions, and confers a certain veracity on them. The presentation concludes that politicians use the public spaces as means to control information and curtail freedom of expression. While citizens are not explicitly prohibited from expressing themselves, they are compelled to do so within a visible space, where they must assume responsibility for their statements. As a result, anything that cannot be assumed is prevented from being said.
Keywords: Guinea, Public administration, Circulation of information, Rumor