2022/1 - #Rumors

Browsing 2022/1 - #Rumors by Author "Baer, Nicholas W."

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  • Article
    All the Rumors Are True
    Baer, Nicholas W.; Hennefeld, Maggie (2022) , S. 5-17
    This introduction surveys the field of critical scholarship on rumors and gossip, making a case for their epistemological relevance in today’s global mediascape. While we take seriously the democratising potential of rumors and gossip as alternative forms of knowledge that empower minoritised voices, we also engage with the more sinister connotations of unverified beliefs and claims in the post-truth era. From feminist whisper networks and queer fabulations to virally proliferating misinformation, fake news, and conspiracies, we assess rumors and gossip across the vast landscape of contemporary media while previewing the essays and roundtable discussion featured in this special issue.
  • Article
    #Rumors: A Roundtable Discussion with Mladen Dolar, Richard Dyer, Alexandra Juhasz, Tavia Nyong’o, Marc Siegel, and Patricia Turner
    Baer, Nicholas W.; Hennefeld, Maggie (2022) , S. 194-210
    Unverified beliefs and truth-claims have been topics of enduring fascination for scholars of media and culture, gaining renewed urgency with the viral spread of fake news via social media and the bitter attacks on scientific knowledge amid the Covid pandemic and climate crisis. In this roundtable discussion, we gather six distinguished thinkers to help us understand rumors, gossip, and the broader allure and danger of unsubstantiated information. With their wide-ranging expertise, our six panelists address the ramifications of rumors and gossip for queer underground cinema, political allegory, star and celebrity cultures, AIDS and Covid media activism, racialised belief systems, and the status of truth and logos in our time.