Veronique Campîon-Vincent

For thirty years Veronique Campion-Vincent has studied rumors and urban legends, adopting an anthropological approach. Together with Jean-Bruno Renard she co-authored three commented collections of urban legends in 1992, 2002, and 2014. She has published in English on rumors of wild animal releases (“Viper-Release Stories: A Contemporary French Legend.” A Nest of Vipers: Perspectives on Contemporary Legend V, edited by Bennett, Gillian & Paul Smith, 1990, 11–40; “The Restoration of Wolves in France: Story, Conflicts and Uses of Rumor.” Mad about Wildlife: Looking at Social Conflict over Wildlife [Human-Animal Studies], edited by Ann Herda-Rapp and Theresa L. Goedeke, Leiden & Boston, 2005, 99–122),as well as on organ theft legends (“The Baby-Parts Story: A New Latin American Legend,” in Contemporary Legends in Emergence, special issue of Western Folklore, Organ Theft Legends, translated by Jacqueline Simpson, Jackson MS, 2005, 2007. (The French original was published in 1997)).

Her English publications on conspiracy theories are:
“The Enemy Within: From Evil Others to Evil Elites.” Sleepers, Moles and Martyrs, special issue of Ethnologia Europaea, vol. 33, no. 2, 2004 [2003], pp. 23–31.
“From Evil Others to Evil Elites: A Dominant Rumor Pattern in Conspiracy Theories Today.” Rumor Mills: The Social Impact of Rumor and Legend, edited by Gary Fine, Veronique Campion-Vincent, and Chip Heath, Piscataway NJ, 2005, 103–22.

She belongs to the network COMPACT “Comparative Analysis of Conspiracy Theories,” a COST Action.

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