Colin Chasi - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Colin Chasi
... STRATEGIES By COLIN TINEI CHASI In fulfilment of the requirements for the degree DOCTOR OF LI... more ... STRATEGIES By COLIN TINEI CHASI In fulfilment of the requirements for the degree DOCTOR OF LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY In ... Page 2. i DECLARATION I, Colin Tinei Chasi, hereby declare that this thesis, submitted to the University of Johannesburg for purposes ...
Journalism Studies, 2022
In this article, we make the case for public interest journalism that advances decolonial societi... more In this article, we make the case for public interest journalism that advances decolonial societies through the application of the quintessential African moral philosophy of ubuntu. In doing so, we discuss how ubuntu combats colonialism and apartheid to enable individuals to become the most that they can be. In this regard, we see decolonial journalism advancing freedom of expression under conditions that enable truth in the public good to emerge, thus challenging the widely purveyed view that freedom of expression or dissent is alien to the African cultural fabric. Indeed, while holding that decolonial journalism is part of the co-creation of communicative spheres that are marked by freedom, justice and dignity, we acknowledge that a decolonial African journalism is capacious enough to express contending perspectives and to serve goals that empower individuals and communities with truths that enable them to meet their needs in ever-changing circumstances.
COMMUNICATIO, 2006
Where analysis concludes that a context is characterised by high risk, as in thecase given HIV/AI... more Where analysis concludes that a context is characterised by high risk, as in thecase given HIV/AIDS in
South Africa, individual choice and freedom are often negated, for instance, by social scientists
when they resort to the statistical logic of large numbers. Ironically, given that knowledge and
rationality are arguably related, the choice and freedom of the individual deemed not to have
knowledge about a given issue, is questioned and soon negated. By focusing on the black people in
South africa, as a key example, it is argued that such analyses and solutions deny the existential
possibilities of the people. The aim of this article is to affirm an individual's possibilities. The situation of
the individual who communicates is recalled to argue against approaches that variously seek to
blame the individual.
In the time of HIV/AIDS, ideas such as those of Saren Kiekegaard should be engaged to advance
understanding of the limitations and possibilities of the individual who communicates. In the trasition
from understanding to acting on information on HIV/AIDS, the individual has the freedom to choose.
This is humbling for communication scientists and practioners who seek to prevent the further spread
of HIV/AIDS.
Africa Education Review, 2015
Lecturing can be positively regarded as a practice by which students can be treated with respect ... more Lecturing can be positively regarded as a practice by which students can be treated with respect in educational processes which grant them freedom to pursue and acquire new knowledge that meets their needs. Lecturing can also be negatively conceived as a practice which others students and positions them as people who deserve to be chided and harangued towards new knowledge. This negative conception is magnified in this strange place where what is taught to overly large classes offensively propagates colonial and apartheid schemata, while failing to advance the development needs of students. My teaching philosophy is a humanistic response to the difficulties of teaching in this strange circumstance.
Lecturing can be positively regarded as a practice by which students can be treated with respect ... more Lecturing can be positively regarded as a practice by which students can be treated with respect in educational processes which grant them freedom to pursue and acquire new knowledge that meets their needs. Lecturing can also be negatively conceived as a practice which others students and positions them as people who deserve to be chided and harangued towards new knowledge. This negative conception is magnified in this strange place where what is taught to overly large classes offensively propagates colonial and apartheid schemata, while failing to advance the development needs of students. My teaching philosophy is a humanistic response to the difficulties of teaching in this strange circumstance.
Communitas, Dec 14, 2007
From an existential perspective, it is observed that communication is expressive of the embodimen... more From an existential perspective, it is observed that communication is expressive of the embodiment of the individual in the world. Communication is above all else expressive of people's modes of existence. The dimensions of the seer and seen are acknowledged as they relate to the embodied individual. They permit an understanding of how the individual fails to contend with the Thou; how it is that the individual is always doomed to live a life that has the structure of bad faith, where one hides the truth from oneself. With reference to all of the above, it is noted that communication is violent. But in this violent character of communication, the eternal source of art is observed. From and in response to these observations an existential approach to HIV/Aids is enunciated in which special attention is given to some ideas of Søren Kierkegaard. The idea is to illustrate that people have the possibility to apply a tactful art of communication to overcome the limiting violence of communication.
Abstract: Nelson Mandela is highly regarded as an example par excellence of African leadership. I... more Abstract: Nelson Mandela is highly regarded as an example par excellence of African leadership. In this regard he is praised for the ways in which he united South Africans, ushering in a new national order. Yet little has been done in Communication Study, in South Africa, to describe the key leadership communication traits that make up his leadership. What is more, notwithstanding some claims regarding how Mandela embodied ubuntu in practice, little has been done to locate and theorise his leadership style in relation to African traditions of communication. This paper presents an appreciative thematic analysis of how Mandela’s leadership communication practices were eulogised and remembered in selected South African newspapers in the ten day period between his death and burial. This entails putting into play a methodological innovation that brings insights from appreciative enquiry to bear on established practices of thematic analysis. The aim is to arrive at key lessons for contemp...
Belief in witchcraft is considered a significant basis for misconceptions that lead to people fai... more Belief in witchcraft is considered a significant basis for misconceptions that lead to people failing to understand the medical science of HIV/AIDS in ways that exacerbate the epidemic. Overcoming belief in witchcraft is seen as an essential indicator of movement towards adoption of belief in medical science and the avoidance of high-risk HIV-related behaviours. Yet people can understand and believe in the medical science of HIV/AIDS, while also believing that witchcraft plays a hand in how certain individuals are more predisposed to harm associated with HIV/AIDS than others. Through discussion of witchcraft and violence against alleged witches, this chapter advances new understandings of how witchcraft and the moral philosophy of Ubuntu are entangled, with implications for present and future communication on HIV/AIDS. A distinctive and significant conclusion is that it is important for scholars to move beyond narrow views that locate health options in the realm of confrontations be...
The Palgrave Handbook of Media and Communication Research in Africa, 2018
There has yet to emerge from universities an African approach to scholarship. Flowing from this, ... more There has yet to emerge from universities an African approach to scholarship. Flowing from this, not surprisingly, there has yet to emerge an African approach to the study of communication and media studies. Thus, African students in this field are taught using texts that draw from US, continental (European), and even Australian approaches. To be sure, scholars have tangentially inserted African texts into the curriculum; but these are texts that are made to fit into extant conceptual schema. In this chapter I argue for a smash-and-grab epistemic grounding that can break down boundaries between humanities disciplines and unleash new conceptual and methodological possibilities for the production and consumption of knowledge. It is my contention that the decolonisation of communication and media research is important, not only to the discipline itself, but also fundamental to the reimagining of the broader field of humanities and the overall rehumanisation of scholarship and the university in Africa.
Journalism Studies, 2022
In this article, we make the case for public interest journalism that advances decolonial societ... more In this article, we make the case for public interest journalism that
advances decolonial societies through the application of the
quintessential African moral philosophy of ubuntu. In doing so,
we discuss how ubuntu combats colonialism and apartheid to
enable individuals to become the most that they can be. In this
regard, we see decolonial journalism advancing freedom of
expression under conditions that enable truth in the public good
to emerge, thus challenging the widely purveyed view that
freedom of expression or dissent is alien to the African cultural
fabric. Indeed, while holding that decolonial journalism is part of
the co-creation of communicative spheres that are marked by
freedom, justice and dignity, we acknowledge that a decolonial
African journalism is capacious enough to express contending
perspectives and to serve goals that empower individuals and
communities with truths that enable them to meet their needs in
ever-changing circumstances.
Talk presented during Paulo Freire Centennial: 7 Talks in Preparation for the Next 100 Years 23rd... more Talk presented during Paulo Freire Centennial: 7 Talks in Preparation for the Next 100 Years 23rd March 2021 Loughborough University London London, UK Editors: Ana Cristina Suzina, Eulália Vasconcelos, Márcio Bigly, Talita Magno
Philosophy of Management, 2013
The study of corporate governance is importantly concerned with individuals and institutions and ... more The study of corporate governance is importantly concerned with individuals and institutions and how individuals and institutions relate with/in society in such a manner that the good obtains. This paper begins with an analysis of Ayi Kwei Armah’s The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born (1968) in order to introduce the post-colonial African condition of corruption and abject suffering as one that begs recognition of the place of corporate governance in advancing the good life. The question raised is of where the things are that would prepare the way to the good or ‘beautyful’ life. This question is raised in the understanding that situations inform how individuals behave. Two case studies of business organisations acting against HIV and AIDS are then looked at to suggest how business has a key role in turning individuals and thereby societies of Africa towards the good. The observation is that work being done to combat the harmful effects of HIV and AIDS is instructive of ways in which corruption and abject suffering may be arrested in post-colonial Africa by advancing a culture of recognition and granting of human dignity that is reflective of and supportive of good corporate governance practices and principles.
Ethics & Behavior, 2014
This article explores ideas around nation-building, as constructed through the ethos as well as ... more This article explores ideas around nation-building, as constructed through the ethos as
well as practice of ubuntu journalism. We make the argument that by invoking ubuntu as an underlying ethos for a reporting ethic and practice, the news media contribute to a magical idea of nationhood and nation-building in South Africa. While not denying that ubuntu is instrumental to nation-building, the study contributes new understandings of both the general artifice, and the nation-building productivity, of what we label ‘magical ubuntu’. The intent here is to describe the postcolonial magic in which ubuntu is implicated, with special regard for the magical functions that relate to the construction of nationhood in contemporary South
Africa.
Critical Arts, 2013
Abstract The aim of this article is not to quibble over the extent, character or purpose of speak... more Abstract The aim of this article is not to quibble over the extent, character or purpose of speaking of Africans as people who do not communicate about something that evidence suggests they do speak about. It is not for this author to exhaust the theoretical possibilities by which communication can be said to not have taken place when it is accepted that someone has spoken. The point is to present a persuasive account that says it is strange and harmful that Africans are labelled silent on HIV/AIDS, when evidence shows them speaking about it. Hence, silence is briefly described, illustrations are offered of respected people presenting Africans as silent, and three major conceptual ways by which people are described as not communicating are interrogated. A key contribution of the article is to render it problematic to simply say Africans do not communicate on HIV/AIDS, or to say that our silence is not communication. The conclusion advocates that we avoid repeating without change the history of silencing others, and rather imagine and communicate towards possible futures in which mutual respect and recognition may stand a better chance. This is thus not a call for silencing talk about silence as regards HIV/AIDS, but a call for better communication that commands the respect of each individual.
Communicatio, 2012
Abstract In the face of HIV/Aids the call for political leadership is often made. Invariably, one... more Abstract In the face of HIV/Aids the call for political leadership is often made. Invariably, one form that this call takes involves leaders being called upon to act as role models. But time after time scandalous revelations arise. These scandals appear to have the potential to damage efforts to address HIV/Aids. This article assumes that it is not appropriate to attempt to limit public expression concerning the sex-related behaviours of politicians. The author further notices, with reference to post-apartheid leadership in South Africa, that the actions, behaviours and motivations of political leaders cannot be readily assumed to result in desired behaviours in relation to HIV/ Aids. It is proposed that rather than cynically saying we are waiting for ideal leaders to arise, we can embrace the challenge of our time by first allowing ourselves to question the status quo. The aim is to recover questions of the possible roles of politicians as questions of how human relations can be achieved. In other words, the aim is to argue for an approach that humanises both politicians and those who would (be given to) follow them.
MATRIZes
Neste artigo, reconhecemos o pensamento freiriano como fundamental para a articulação de um dos q... more Neste artigo, reconhecemos o pensamento freiriano como fundamental para a articulação de um dos quatro principais fluxos de influência às abordagens sul-africanas de comunicação e mudança social. Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni (2017) afirmou que os estudos universitários na África têm três influências civilizacionais: “As próprias ricas culturas/ tradições da África, as culturas/tradições islâmicas e as culturas/tradições ocidentais” (p. 54). Este relato da influência da conscientização freiriana sobre a filosofia e as práticas do movimento Consciência Negra, originário da África do Sul na década de 1960, chama a atenção para o pensamento do Consciência Negra, considerado um marco fundamental nos estudos de comunicação e mudança social.
Communicatio, 2020
This article discusses the possibility of a discipline of communication and media studies that is... more This article discusses the possibility of a discipline of communication and media studies that is innovative, pluralistic and open in ways that conduce to development. Based on a set of in-depth interviews with a select group of South African communication and media studies scholars, the article discusses critically how, and if, communication and media studies as a field is innovative. Innovation here talks to a discipline that is imaginatively open to a myriad of different, diverse and divergent contributions relevant to the human endeavour of understanding the world in ways that better humanity. In doing this, the authors critically explore how the discipline is perceived variously by the scholars interviewed as enabling, encompassing and embodying innovation in research, teaching, curricula, theory, methodology, resourcing, and community outreach. As such the article addresses a span of issues that either support or inhibit innovation.
In this chapter we engage with the so-called ‘ferment in the field’ debate that has shaped much o... more In this chapter we engage with the so-called ‘ferment in the field’ debate that has shaped much of the discourse around the direction, disciplinary, epistemological and methodological grounding of the broader media and communications field since the 1980s. This debate is ultimately about strengthening and advancing media and communications scholarship. That said, it continues to overlook developments in epistemology as well as methodology in and from an African context. As such, the discipline, epistemologies and methodologies that underpin scholarly research have remained lodged in the global North and isolated from scholarship of the South. To advance the discipline as a whole, the ferment in the field debate will have to take account of scholarship from locations other than the global North; in particular, scholarship that is grounded in quintessentially African philosophical insights, as well as converging on notions of participation studies.
... STRATEGIES By COLIN TINEI CHASI In fulfilment of the requirements for the degree DOCTOR OF LI... more ... STRATEGIES By COLIN TINEI CHASI In fulfilment of the requirements for the degree DOCTOR OF LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY In ... Page 2. i DECLARATION I, Colin Tinei Chasi, hereby declare that this thesis, submitted to the University of Johannesburg for purposes ...
Journalism Studies, 2022
In this article, we make the case for public interest journalism that advances decolonial societi... more In this article, we make the case for public interest journalism that advances decolonial societies through the application of the quintessential African moral philosophy of ubuntu. In doing so, we discuss how ubuntu combats colonialism and apartheid to enable individuals to become the most that they can be. In this regard, we see decolonial journalism advancing freedom of expression under conditions that enable truth in the public good to emerge, thus challenging the widely purveyed view that freedom of expression or dissent is alien to the African cultural fabric. Indeed, while holding that decolonial journalism is part of the co-creation of communicative spheres that are marked by freedom, justice and dignity, we acknowledge that a decolonial African journalism is capacious enough to express contending perspectives and to serve goals that empower individuals and communities with truths that enable them to meet their needs in ever-changing circumstances.
COMMUNICATIO, 2006
Where analysis concludes that a context is characterised by high risk, as in thecase given HIV/AI... more Where analysis concludes that a context is characterised by high risk, as in thecase given HIV/AIDS in
South Africa, individual choice and freedom are often negated, for instance, by social scientists
when they resort to the statistical logic of large numbers. Ironically, given that knowledge and
rationality are arguably related, the choice and freedom of the individual deemed not to have
knowledge about a given issue, is questioned and soon negated. By focusing on the black people in
South africa, as a key example, it is argued that such analyses and solutions deny the existential
possibilities of the people. The aim of this article is to affirm an individual's possibilities. The situation of
the individual who communicates is recalled to argue against approaches that variously seek to
blame the individual.
In the time of HIV/AIDS, ideas such as those of Saren Kiekegaard should be engaged to advance
understanding of the limitations and possibilities of the individual who communicates. In the trasition
from understanding to acting on information on HIV/AIDS, the individual has the freedom to choose.
This is humbling for communication scientists and practioners who seek to prevent the further spread
of HIV/AIDS.
Africa Education Review, 2015
Lecturing can be positively regarded as a practice by which students can be treated with respect ... more Lecturing can be positively regarded as a practice by which students can be treated with respect in educational processes which grant them freedom to pursue and acquire new knowledge that meets their needs. Lecturing can also be negatively conceived as a practice which others students and positions them as people who deserve to be chided and harangued towards new knowledge. This negative conception is magnified in this strange place where what is taught to overly large classes offensively propagates colonial and apartheid schemata, while failing to advance the development needs of students. My teaching philosophy is a humanistic response to the difficulties of teaching in this strange circumstance.
Lecturing can be positively regarded as a practice by which students can be treated with respect ... more Lecturing can be positively regarded as a practice by which students can be treated with respect in educational processes which grant them freedom to pursue and acquire new knowledge that meets their needs. Lecturing can also be negatively conceived as a practice which others students and positions them as people who deserve to be chided and harangued towards new knowledge. This negative conception is magnified in this strange place where what is taught to overly large classes offensively propagates colonial and apartheid schemata, while failing to advance the development needs of students. My teaching philosophy is a humanistic response to the difficulties of teaching in this strange circumstance.
Communitas, Dec 14, 2007
From an existential perspective, it is observed that communication is expressive of the embodimen... more From an existential perspective, it is observed that communication is expressive of the embodiment of the individual in the world. Communication is above all else expressive of people's modes of existence. The dimensions of the seer and seen are acknowledged as they relate to the embodied individual. They permit an understanding of how the individual fails to contend with the Thou; how it is that the individual is always doomed to live a life that has the structure of bad faith, where one hides the truth from oneself. With reference to all of the above, it is noted that communication is violent. But in this violent character of communication, the eternal source of art is observed. From and in response to these observations an existential approach to HIV/Aids is enunciated in which special attention is given to some ideas of Søren Kierkegaard. The idea is to illustrate that people have the possibility to apply a tactful art of communication to overcome the limiting violence of communication.
Abstract: Nelson Mandela is highly regarded as an example par excellence of African leadership. I... more Abstract: Nelson Mandela is highly regarded as an example par excellence of African leadership. In this regard he is praised for the ways in which he united South Africans, ushering in a new national order. Yet little has been done in Communication Study, in South Africa, to describe the key leadership communication traits that make up his leadership. What is more, notwithstanding some claims regarding how Mandela embodied ubuntu in practice, little has been done to locate and theorise his leadership style in relation to African traditions of communication. This paper presents an appreciative thematic analysis of how Mandela’s leadership communication practices were eulogised and remembered in selected South African newspapers in the ten day period between his death and burial. This entails putting into play a methodological innovation that brings insights from appreciative enquiry to bear on established practices of thematic analysis. The aim is to arrive at key lessons for contemp...
Belief in witchcraft is considered a significant basis for misconceptions that lead to people fai... more Belief in witchcraft is considered a significant basis for misconceptions that lead to people failing to understand the medical science of HIV/AIDS in ways that exacerbate the epidemic. Overcoming belief in witchcraft is seen as an essential indicator of movement towards adoption of belief in medical science and the avoidance of high-risk HIV-related behaviours. Yet people can understand and believe in the medical science of HIV/AIDS, while also believing that witchcraft plays a hand in how certain individuals are more predisposed to harm associated with HIV/AIDS than others. Through discussion of witchcraft and violence against alleged witches, this chapter advances new understandings of how witchcraft and the moral philosophy of Ubuntu are entangled, with implications for present and future communication on HIV/AIDS. A distinctive and significant conclusion is that it is important for scholars to move beyond narrow views that locate health options in the realm of confrontations be...
The Palgrave Handbook of Media and Communication Research in Africa, 2018
There has yet to emerge from universities an African approach to scholarship. Flowing from this, ... more There has yet to emerge from universities an African approach to scholarship. Flowing from this, not surprisingly, there has yet to emerge an African approach to the study of communication and media studies. Thus, African students in this field are taught using texts that draw from US, continental (European), and even Australian approaches. To be sure, scholars have tangentially inserted African texts into the curriculum; but these are texts that are made to fit into extant conceptual schema. In this chapter I argue for a smash-and-grab epistemic grounding that can break down boundaries between humanities disciplines and unleash new conceptual and methodological possibilities for the production and consumption of knowledge. It is my contention that the decolonisation of communication and media research is important, not only to the discipline itself, but also fundamental to the reimagining of the broader field of humanities and the overall rehumanisation of scholarship and the university in Africa.
Journalism Studies, 2022
In this article, we make the case for public interest journalism that advances decolonial societ... more In this article, we make the case for public interest journalism that
advances decolonial societies through the application of the
quintessential African moral philosophy of ubuntu. In doing so,
we discuss how ubuntu combats colonialism and apartheid to
enable individuals to become the most that they can be. In this
regard, we see decolonial journalism advancing freedom of
expression under conditions that enable truth in the public good
to emerge, thus challenging the widely purveyed view that
freedom of expression or dissent is alien to the African cultural
fabric. Indeed, while holding that decolonial journalism is part of
the co-creation of communicative spheres that are marked by
freedom, justice and dignity, we acknowledge that a decolonial
African journalism is capacious enough to express contending
perspectives and to serve goals that empower individuals and
communities with truths that enable them to meet their needs in
ever-changing circumstances.
Talk presented during Paulo Freire Centennial: 7 Talks in Preparation for the Next 100 Years 23rd... more Talk presented during Paulo Freire Centennial: 7 Talks in Preparation for the Next 100 Years 23rd March 2021 Loughborough University London London, UK Editors: Ana Cristina Suzina, Eulália Vasconcelos, Márcio Bigly, Talita Magno
Philosophy of Management, 2013
The study of corporate governance is importantly concerned with individuals and institutions and ... more The study of corporate governance is importantly concerned with individuals and institutions and how individuals and institutions relate with/in society in such a manner that the good obtains. This paper begins with an analysis of Ayi Kwei Armah’s The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born (1968) in order to introduce the post-colonial African condition of corruption and abject suffering as one that begs recognition of the place of corporate governance in advancing the good life. The question raised is of where the things are that would prepare the way to the good or ‘beautyful’ life. This question is raised in the understanding that situations inform how individuals behave. Two case studies of business organisations acting against HIV and AIDS are then looked at to suggest how business has a key role in turning individuals and thereby societies of Africa towards the good. The observation is that work being done to combat the harmful effects of HIV and AIDS is instructive of ways in which corruption and abject suffering may be arrested in post-colonial Africa by advancing a culture of recognition and granting of human dignity that is reflective of and supportive of good corporate governance practices and principles.
Ethics & Behavior, 2014
This article explores ideas around nation-building, as constructed through the ethos as well as ... more This article explores ideas around nation-building, as constructed through the ethos as
well as practice of ubuntu journalism. We make the argument that by invoking ubuntu as an underlying ethos for a reporting ethic and practice, the news media contribute to a magical idea of nationhood and nation-building in South Africa. While not denying that ubuntu is instrumental to nation-building, the study contributes new understandings of both the general artifice, and the nation-building productivity, of what we label ‘magical ubuntu’. The intent here is to describe the postcolonial magic in which ubuntu is implicated, with special regard for the magical functions that relate to the construction of nationhood in contemporary South
Africa.
Critical Arts, 2013
Abstract The aim of this article is not to quibble over the extent, character or purpose of speak... more Abstract The aim of this article is not to quibble over the extent, character or purpose of speaking of Africans as people who do not communicate about something that evidence suggests they do speak about. It is not for this author to exhaust the theoretical possibilities by which communication can be said to not have taken place when it is accepted that someone has spoken. The point is to present a persuasive account that says it is strange and harmful that Africans are labelled silent on HIV/AIDS, when evidence shows them speaking about it. Hence, silence is briefly described, illustrations are offered of respected people presenting Africans as silent, and three major conceptual ways by which people are described as not communicating are interrogated. A key contribution of the article is to render it problematic to simply say Africans do not communicate on HIV/AIDS, or to say that our silence is not communication. The conclusion advocates that we avoid repeating without change the history of silencing others, and rather imagine and communicate towards possible futures in which mutual respect and recognition may stand a better chance. This is thus not a call for silencing talk about silence as regards HIV/AIDS, but a call for better communication that commands the respect of each individual.
Communicatio, 2012
Abstract In the face of HIV/Aids the call for political leadership is often made. Invariably, one... more Abstract In the face of HIV/Aids the call for political leadership is often made. Invariably, one form that this call takes involves leaders being called upon to act as role models. But time after time scandalous revelations arise. These scandals appear to have the potential to damage efforts to address HIV/Aids. This article assumes that it is not appropriate to attempt to limit public expression concerning the sex-related behaviours of politicians. The author further notices, with reference to post-apartheid leadership in South Africa, that the actions, behaviours and motivations of political leaders cannot be readily assumed to result in desired behaviours in relation to HIV/ Aids. It is proposed that rather than cynically saying we are waiting for ideal leaders to arise, we can embrace the challenge of our time by first allowing ourselves to question the status quo. The aim is to recover questions of the possible roles of politicians as questions of how human relations can be achieved. In other words, the aim is to argue for an approach that humanises both politicians and those who would (be given to) follow them.
MATRIZes
Neste artigo, reconhecemos o pensamento freiriano como fundamental para a articulação de um dos q... more Neste artigo, reconhecemos o pensamento freiriano como fundamental para a articulação de um dos quatro principais fluxos de influência às abordagens sul-africanas de comunicação e mudança social. Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni (2017) afirmou que os estudos universitários na África têm três influências civilizacionais: “As próprias ricas culturas/ tradições da África, as culturas/tradições islâmicas e as culturas/tradições ocidentais” (p. 54). Este relato da influência da conscientização freiriana sobre a filosofia e as práticas do movimento Consciência Negra, originário da África do Sul na década de 1960, chama a atenção para o pensamento do Consciência Negra, considerado um marco fundamental nos estudos de comunicação e mudança social.
Communicatio, 2020
This article discusses the possibility of a discipline of communication and media studies that is... more This article discusses the possibility of a discipline of communication and media studies that is innovative, pluralistic and open in ways that conduce to development. Based on a set of in-depth interviews with a select group of South African communication and media studies scholars, the article discusses critically how, and if, communication and media studies as a field is innovative. Innovation here talks to a discipline that is imaginatively open to a myriad of different, diverse and divergent contributions relevant to the human endeavour of understanding the world in ways that better humanity. In doing this, the authors critically explore how the discipline is perceived variously by the scholars interviewed as enabling, encompassing and embodying innovation in research, teaching, curricula, theory, methodology, resourcing, and community outreach. As such the article addresses a span of issues that either support or inhibit innovation.
In this chapter we engage with the so-called ‘ferment in the field’ debate that has shaped much o... more In this chapter we engage with the so-called ‘ferment in the field’ debate that has shaped much of the discourse around the direction, disciplinary, epistemological and methodological grounding of the broader media and communications field since the 1980s. This debate is ultimately about strengthening and advancing media and communications scholarship. That said, it continues to overlook developments in epistemology as well as methodology in and from an African context. As such, the discipline, epistemologies and methodologies that underpin scholarly research have remained lodged in the global North and isolated from scholarship of the South. To advance the discipline as a whole, the ferment in the field debate will have to take account of scholarship from locations other than the global North; in particular, scholarship that is grounded in quintessentially African philosophical insights, as well as converging on notions of participation studies.