CONFERENCE: 'When Loud Rumour Speaks’: Informal communication in the modern online world

Date 15 October 2026 09:30 - 17:00

Location Royal Anthropological Institute, 50 Fitzroy Street, London, W1T 5BT and online via Zoom

‘Folklore and Anthropology in Conversation’

The Tenth Folklore Society – Royal Anthropological Institute Joint Seminar

Thursday 15 October, 2026, 10:00-17:00, at 50 Fitzroy Street, London W1T 5BT

‘When Loud Rumour Speaks’: Informal communication in the modern online world

Anthropologists know what it is to deal with networks of informal communication. Field research in small-scale, face-to-face social situations, be they villages, neighbourhoods or organisations, has always entailed coming to grips with this in one way or another. Folklorists, whether collecting 'traditional' oral material of various sorts or documenting urban and contemporary legends and the online world of memes and viral narratives, have always recognised the fundamental importance of informal communication.  Anthropology and folklore meet here in shared and long-standing interests in rumour, which have only been sharpened by the rise and rapid expansion of the Internet. This meeting will consider the social roles of rumour in the broadest senses, whether comparatively or in case studies, and will explore what the two disciplines have in common in this respect, what they can learn from each other, and how, if at all, rumour has changed in the online era: are we witnessing the emergence of a new mode of communication, somewhere between the face-to-face/oral and the literate?  

Presentations will be given in person, but conference attendees may attend either on-site, or via Zoom. There is no registration fee. For on-site attendees, refreshments and a light lunch will be provided free of charge.

Booking information will be available soon: contact thefolkloresociety@gmail.com for more details

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/yarn-phone-communication-network-2091195/