Reality and rumour: the grey areas of international development in Guatemala

In Guatemala, development projects and practitioners are frequently associated with rumours. These rumours, often related to suspicions of ulterior motives, have a high degree of potency and endurance. This paper investigates this relationship between development and rumour, focusing on some of the more prevalent rumours including robaniños (baby-stealers), religious rumours regarding the Antichrist and rumours related to vaccinations and sterilisation. As a counter to perspectives which essentialise a lack of education in the perpetuation of rumours, I explore how they become devices through which one can understand power imbalances and everyday violence(s) inherent in many development projects and processes.     

谣言可信度的影响因素及其功能

谣言是一种据称是真实但没有确切证据证明的说法。影响谣言可信度的因素通常有个体所持的态度与谣言是否一致、谣言的来源是否可信、谣言传播的次数以及针对谣言举出的反例。从个体层次来说，谣言有吸引人们注意事件、还原最初的解释、激活知识结构以解决问题、增加人们探索世界动机的功能。从群体层次来讲，谣言的功能在于对模糊情境做出有意义的解释、应对威胁等。未来的研究除进一步探讨谣言及其可信度之间的关系外，需要从不同角度探究谣言在群体性事件中的发动机制及如何平息有害的谣言。     

Le théologien et le somnambule: un épisode récent de l'histoire almoravide en Mauritanie

In 2012, images of a mystical mermaid known locally as Mami Wata circulated on the Internet and via people's mobile phones, sparking rumours that Chinese labourers had captured her as they were installing underwater fibreoptic cables. Appearing as a grotesque sea-creature with a gnarled, shrivelled body, this new image of Mami Wata challenges older, popular depictions of her as a beautiful maiden. Further, in her deformed body, Mami Wata reveals new tensions arising from promises of wealth and modernisation promoted by both Chinese and Congolese governments. Accounts of rumours/urban legends and metaphors of contagion animate larger contemporary discussions concerning development projects, “otherness” and the influence of the Internet and mobile phone technology on production of popular African culture. The female siren, Mami Wata, is a recurring motif in Kinshasa's collective urban imaginary. Historically she has been an expression of modernity and hybridity through visual representation in popular painting, sculpture and television serials. Now Mami Wata appears in the digital world. In this article, in addition to analysing the ways in which contemporary technology mediates this archetypal figure, I draw on notions of otherness, recent historical, political and economic changes in the Democratic Republic of Congo to analyse the ways they inform the particular shape and meaning that Mami Wata takes when transformed into the digital domain.     

试析公共安全危机中的谣言

当今社会,各种公共安全危机事件频频发生,严重影响了社会的稳定。而谣言作为舆论的一种畸形形态,无疑诱发和加剧了这种危机状况,其危害性不言而喻,因此对公共安全危机情景下谣言的研究是十分必要的。本文分析了公共安全危机下谣言产生的机理和影响因素,并针对性地提出了抑制谣言的建议性对策。