African Communication Research - Grassroots, Participatory Communication

African Communication Research in a peer-reviewed journal which seeks to help bring African communication researchers into dialogue and debate about their common efforts with the aim to strengthen African theories and methods around communication for development. It is published three times a year by the Faculty of Social Sciences and Communications at St. Augustine University of Tanzania, Mwanza, Tanzania.

The focus of this first issue is on how people in local communities communicate among themselves to solve local problems as well as on how people at the grassroots level can articulate their views, needs, and interests up to the district, regional, and national levels.

The publication includes the following chapters:


Why a New Communication Research Publication in Africa? - The Editors

The editors of African Communication Research outline the reasons and discussions that led to this publication.

Introduction: Grassroots, Participatory Communication: Is a New Vision of Communication Emerging in Africa? - Robert A. White, Issue editor, St. Augustine University of Tanzania

In this chapter the editor gives an overview of the content of this edition, identifying four themes that emerge out of the featured research articles on communications in Africa:

1. The validity of the local knowledge, the traditional forms of organisation, and the indigenous modes of communication for effective communication in Africa.
2. The most effective 'research' and experimentation are not to be found in the 'established centres' such as Western-oriented universities but in the constant trial and experimentation that is generally carried out in local communities.
3. The most effective structure of communication in Africa, with roots in African culture, is dialogical - the ongoing conversation, palaver, and interchange of all actors involved in the process.
4. The structure of communication is focused on the issues and questions raised inside African countries, not expecting that the best ideas will come from the outside global communication.

Review Article: Ten Major Lines of Research on Grassroots, Participatory Communication in Africa> - Robert A. White, St. Augustine University of Tanzania

The editor reviews each research article in the publication and places the ideas and arguments of each article in the wider context of communication research and practice.

Research on Traditional Communication in Africa: The Development and Future Directions - Des Wilson, Department of Communication Arts, University of Uyo, Uyo, Nigeria

Abstract: "The present article traces the development of research on traditional communication and media in the African context, outlines the major areas of this research currently being developed and introduces briefly the major researchers and their publications dealing with this topic. The author argues that traditional media and traditional forms of communication continue to be important in the life and culture of Africa, especially in the more rural areas."

Blending New Technology with Local, Indigenous Cultures: A New Approach to Communication for Rural Development - Festus Tarawalie, Fatima Institute, Sierra Leone

Abstract: "The present article reports the evaluation of the factors which contributed to the success or failure of the FAO's People's Participation Programme in setting up sustainable networks of people-controlled rural organisations in seven African countries. In countries such as Zambia where the programme evolved into a people's NGO that continued after the programme, the key factor was allowing the people the freedom to build on their local knowledge, traditional cooperative organisations in villages and traditional communication. A 'conversation' between local groups and technical assistants allowed local groups to 'blend' new forms of organisation such as formalised byelaws and federation into the traditional forms of communicative relations to make these more effective in a globalising culture. Where blending was operative, there were more rapid increases in productivity, capitalisation and sustainability. This article analyses the programme conditions which facilitated a process of blending and the role of African 'communalistic root paradigms' in cultural blending."

Nollywood Films as a Site for Constructing Contemporary African Identities: The Significance of Village Ritual Scenes in Igbo Films - I. Ebere Uwah, Dublin City University, Ireland

Abstract: "Many reasons have been advanced as to why the video film industry in Nigeria has been so successful financially and in building loyal audiences among Africans around the world. The present article argues that Nollywood films attract by providing a time and place for resolving deep-felt tensions between life in an increasingly modern, Western and urban world and a longing for an authentic African identity. The way video films are produced - getting ideas from people's everyday talk, producing intuitively on location and responding to an immediate market - brings these films close to the most emotional questions Nigerians and other Africans are asking. The typical action of many video films begins with the lust for power, luxurious wealth and pleasure in the city, but then returns to the village for purification and forgiveness. At the heart of the resolution of the action, especially in the Igbo films, are the continually recurring, traditional rituals of reaffirming identity in the village."

Does National Development Policy Encourage Participatory Communication? The Case of Tanzania - Benedict Mongula, Institute of Development Studies, University of Dar es Salaam

Abstract: "Virtually all political leaders in Africa, at the time of independence, announced a policy of encouraging grassroots participation in the national decisions. The Arusha Declaration of Tanzania was one of the clearest and strongest statements guaranteeing popular participation. The present article takes Tanzania as a case study to analyse why, in spite of all the talk of grassroots participation, it is so difficult to promote significant participatory communications in Africa. This article examines the cases of systematic repression by government of movements attempting to institutionalise participation. Also examined is why there are so few serious, long-term and sustained attempts in Tanzania to introduce systems of grassroots, participatory communication.

The electronic publication of the African Communication Review is sponsored by the UNESCO Chair in Communication, currently held by Ruth E Teer-Tomaselli, University of KwaZulu-Natal.