Crude talking: radio and the politics of naming, blaming and claiming in oil-age Niger

Abstract

ABSTRACT At the beginning of production, the presence of oil in Niger was characterised by talking oil politics. In this talk, political actors invoked the ‘resource curse’ thesis to question the legitimacy of their opponents through the speech acts of naming, blaming and claiming. Analysing two radio debates from late 2011 about the future fuel price and the prospects of Niger’s oil refinery, I situate the actors’ oil talk according to their positions in the political arena, thereby revealing their personal projects. In doing so, I show that oil talk is enacted in a double sense. Firstly, political actors’ agendas shape their talk and secondly, privileged access to radio is essential in becoming a potent political actor in the talk around oil. Using these findings, I discuss the importance of radio in Nigerien politics and try to decode the ‘how’ of Nigerien politics itself.