Theorising the African digital public sphere: a West African odyssey

Akinbobola, Yemisi

doi:10.1080/23743670.2015.1119489

Cited by 11 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…by reducing messages to contributions and by trapping users in endless arguments with no possibility of resolution in order to sustain the flow of data. While removing gatekeepers and allowing direct interaction between African politicians and their constituencies (Akinbobola, 2015), digital media has not freed democratic participation from the logics of accumulation, majoritarianism, expediency, etc. which constitute the "dark side" of modernity in the political domain.…”

Section: Digital Media and Emancipation/liberationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decolonising Political Communication in Africa

Karam¹,

Mutsvairo²

2021

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This book uses decolonisation as a lens to interrogate political communication styles, performance, and practice in Africa and the diaspora.The book interrogates the theory and practice of political communication, using decolonial research methods to begin a process of self-reflexivity and the creation of a new approach to knowledge production about African political communication. In doing so, it explores political communication approaches that might until recently have been considered subversive or dissident: forms of political communication that served to challenge imposed Western norms and to empower African citizens and their histories. Centring African scholarship, the book draws on case studies from across the continent, including Zimbabwe, South Africa, Nigeria, and Ghana. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of politics, media, and communication in Africa.

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Section: Digital Media and Emancipation/liberationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decolonising Political Communication in Africa

Karam¹,

Mutsvairo²

2021

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“…Another issue which has been discussed in recent years (e.g. Akinbobola, 2015;Kandie, personal communication, 2015) is the question of why ICT has been developed separately from media planning, both in Kenya and in Tanzania. ICT could strengthen the media in aspects which have thus far been weak: in decreasing top/down reporting, in spreading out from cities, in localising and in giving voice to the voiceless.…”

Section: Survey On Ict and Education In Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

Twinning Social Memory and Social Imaginary: Challenges for East African Media Policies

Kivikuru

2017

African Journalism Studies

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Up to the early 1990s, the African communication sphere was regularly placed at the bottom of any international evaluation-too little, too urban and too authority-oriented. But then the situation changed. New political winds found their expression in the Windhoek Declaration (1991). Independent media voices emerged. A little later, a surge of information and communication technologies swept over the continent, turning the ambitions towards digital forms of communication. The phenomenon has been called the 'smartphone revolution'. Africans have been ensured access to the Internet, and they have entered the modern world. But is the revolution really a revolution? Problems and contradictions in the mediascape are still prevalent, and a Habermasian public sphere is hardly available for anyone other than the urban middle and upper classes. Chantal Mouffe (2005) differentiates 'the political' and 'politics', which stands for institutional control and order, while 'the political' means individual's ability to antagonism. Is there space for the political in Africa? Arjun Appadurai (1996) has talked about imagination turning into social practice in global cultural processes. A prerequisite for such a development are social practices designed according to the needs of the society in question. However, as indicated in several studies (Berger, 2007; Rioba, 2009), changes in communication policies tend to be risky in Africa.

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“…Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture, 14(1), 66-80. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16997/wpcc.305 theorise the African public sphere (Akinbobola, 2015) while others have sought to scrutinise the impact of Twitter and Facebook-led online activism in Africa (See Ogola, 2019;Mutsvairo, 2018;Bosch and Mutsvairo, 2017;Mutsvairo, 2016a;Mutsvairo 2013a;Mutsvairo, 2016b). More recently a special issue edited by Srinivasan, Diepeveen and Karekwaivanane (2019, p.13) made an attempt to understand 'the idea of publics as both a heuristic means as well as an object of study for coming to grips with the nature and significance of burgeoning new communicative practices in Africa in a digital age.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Deferred ‘Democracy Dividend’ of Citizen Journalism and Social Media: Perils, Promises and Prospects from the Zimbabwean Experience

Chitanana¹,

Mutsvairo²

2019

Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture

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The efficacy of digital media on politics, and society at large, has long been a subject of intense scholarly debate. This paper examines the democratisation potential of social media within Zimbabwe's historically repressive political environment. Since the early 2000s, technological determinists in Zimbabwe saw citizen journalism and social media as a 'game-changer' in propping up a democratic project against the ruling regime. Two decades later, and as the country grapples with governance challenges, the prospects for meaningful political participation enabled by social media have remained elusive. The current study uses a contextual analytic lens informed by critical political economy of media and broader media effects theoretical concepts to probe the political impact of social media activism. Social media are technological tools whose role in society is contingent on human agency. While Zimbabwe has had significant protests employing social and digital media, their political impact, this paper argues, should not be overstated. Deterministic views have tended to create solutionist approaches to social media, undermining a nuanced understanding of their transformative potential.

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Theorising the African digital public sphere: a West African odyssey

Cited by 11 publications

References 30 publications

Decolonising Political Communication in Africa

Decolonising Political Communication in Africa

Twinning Social Memory and Social Imaginary: Challenges for East African Media Policies

The Deferred ‘Democracy Dividend’ of Citizen Journalism and Social Media: Perils, Promises and Prospects from the Zimbabwean Experience

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