Black Sheep: Gossip and More-than-Human Racialization in French néo-ruralité
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This article brings together French-language ethnological literature on néo-ruralité with interdisciplinary debates about more-than-human intersectional marginalization, to contribute to the existing scholarship on the anthropology of gossip. Using a rich ethnographic case study widely known as the “black ram-gate” in the Cotentin region, I argue that néo-ruraux (urbanites who relocate to a rural community as part of a life project) can be shown to use the gossip allegedly spread about them by ruraux de souche (individuals identified by néo-ruraux or by their own account as “born and raised in the area”) to discredit the latter’s suitability for modern rural life. Here, as outsiders, néo-ruraux are able to construct gossip as an outdated activity, synonymous to rural conservatism, xenophobia and social paralysis. However, a focus on animal breeding narratives reveals that, far from elevating themselves above gossip altogether, néo-ruraux use similar scandalizing devices to racialize ruraux de souche in their turn.
Author: Julien Dugnoille
Institution: University of Exeter
Language: English
Subfield: Geography, Planning and Development
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7118658803