‘I Did Not Wash My Hand for Days’

This article focuses on the reception of revolutionary oratory in what was once known as The People’s Revolutionary Republic Guinea. Sékou Touré, Guinea’s first president, captivated nation with fiery, unscripted speeches lasting four, five, or six hours. Guinean audiences were enthralled by his sublime rhetoric. In a 2008 coup, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara declared himself attempting to recreate fervour days. citizens initially provided willing audience, though Camara’s fell far short Touré’s example. explores how effects shock and boredom that Ngai describes ‘stuplimity’ (2005) emerged reaction performances. Stuplimity halfway point between Guineans’ initial ‘revolutionary’ suspension disbelief regarding junta’s intentions their subsequent rejection anger, which led collapse less than year after it took power.