Have you heard what they are doing to our people? The role of rumours in the 2007/2008 post-election ethnic riots in Kenya

Abstract In 2008 Kenya went through post-election ethnic riots that left thousands dead in addition to massive property destruction. In relation to this episode, the purpose of this paper is twofold: first is to describe the method of using newspapers as sources of primary data and secondly to analyse rumours that were reported by newspapers during the 2008 post-election violence. The analysis uses Carl Schmitt’s Friend/Enemy principle to shows how rumours are part of politics. By using newspapers as primary historical data sources, this research collected and analysed major rumours that persisted during the 2008 post-election violence and shows how these rumours and the resultant antagonism should be taken as part of real politics that cannot be eliminated but can be transformed into peaceful political actions. The article argues that that rumours are literally ‘the political’ as described by Schmitt. The study contends that media researchers should use newspapers as a primary source of historical data to benefit from the wide reportage by journalists. Key Words: Ethnic Riots, Rumour, Kenya, Election, Violence, Antagonism, Agonism, Newspapers, Primary Sources. * David Katiambo is a Lecturer in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies, The Technical University of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya and a Ph..D. Candidate at the University of South Africa. JCMR Journal of Communication and Media Research, Vol. 10, No. 1, April 2018, 63-75