Sagnane, Saïkou Oumar
Research Interests:
Circulation of Information/Information Flow, Crisis and Risk Communication, Study of Events (Health and Political Crisis), Uncertainty, Epistemology, African studies
Geographical Area:
Guinea
Current Project:
Unexpected Regime Change and Military Transition in the Republic of Guinea: Information Flow, Uncertainty and Ambiguity
This thesis project is part of the debate on the reconfiguration of African studies. To contribute to this reflection, this research project analyzes exceptional and unexpected situations in which clear explanations and answers to pressing questions are not easily available. As a case study, it concentrates on the seizure of power by the military in the Republic of Guinea. This incident is illustrative of these unpredictable situations. The empirical objective of this work will be to study the way in which information circulates in the current context of uncertainty in the Republic of Guinea on the one hand, and to analyse the interactions between the information circuits, the uncertainties around the phenomenon, the ambiguities of the actors, and the power relations. The aim is also to conduct a methodological and theoretical reflection on the role of the researcher in the production and circulation of information. To contribute to a reconfiguration of African studies, this reflection questions and compares different systems of thought and communication (scientific and non-scientific) on their capacity to produce certainties in the face of unexpected events.
The approach is based on the development of an analytical framework based on the circulation of information to understand social phenomena (exceptional and unexpected). It combines historical, ethnographic and qualitative sociological methods to:
- understand the circulation and the multiple paths of information as well as its moments of attenuation, transformation, deviation or disappearance;
- highlight the uncertainties, ambiguities and power relations that take shape through the circulation of information.
In the end, this work provides a reflection on the role of the social sciences in the production of knowledge in so-called "African studies".
Further information (CV, publications, conference contributions)