albert chibuwe | Midlands State University (original) (raw)

Papers by albert chibuwe

Communicatio, Jul 3, 2018

Political contestation in Zimbabwe post-2000 has been largely acrimonious. In the electoral domai... more Political contestation in Zimbabwe post-2000 has been largely acrimonious. In the electoral domain of the epoch, political advertising, has been one of the key tools through which this contestation took place. However, these advertisements have been barely studied and those that have made an attempt to study them did not examine them from advertising theory and/or sign theory perspective. The study argues that locating the analysis of political advertisements in advertising theory and sign theory presents an opportunity to gain insights into how political products gain sign value, exchange value and utility value. The study deploys advertising theory and sign theory to examine the value that selected indigenous and Western signs used by the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) invest in the political products: ZANU-PF and Mugabe. By interrogating four purposively selected signs in ZANU-PF advertisements for the July 2013 elections, I seek to establish how political products are produced as signs and signs as political products. The selected signs are subjected to semiotic analysis. The findings show that ZANU-PF's use of these valorised Western and indigenous, often contradictory, signs is designed to appeal to votes on the basis that it is a democratic, divine anointed, Christian and African-oriented party.

Routledge eBooks, Nov 16, 2020

Critical Arts, Jan 2, 2017

Language is a political tool used to legitimise, delegitimise, produce and (re)produce dominance.... more Language is a political tool used to legitimise, delegitimise, produce and (re)produce dominance. In Zimbabwe, ZANU-PF advertisements for the July 2013 elections were an attempt to deploy language to (re)produce dominance. The advertisements were produced in the context of a power-sharing government comprising ZANU-PF and the MDCs. Adopting sign theory, the article uses legitimation analysis to explore the ways in which ZANU-PF used language to retain dominance. Research revealed that ZANU-PF legitimated its dominance on the basis of performance, for example, implementing the multiple currencies system after the Zimbabwe dollar's collapse and delivering a constitution that guarantees the values espoused by the liberation struggle. Mugabe's incomparable "wisdom and deftness" in handling matters of state, ZANU-PF's care for ordinary urban ratepayers and economic indigenisation were used to justify the party's dominance. It also legitimised its rule by portraying the MDC-T as an uncaring, dishonest and sellout party, thus delegitimising it while skilfully concealing its own blame in the collapse of the economy post-2000.

Discourse & Communication

Drawing on Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), and anchored on CDA theory, we argue that as the ru... more Drawing on Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), and anchored on CDA theory, we argue that as the ruling party’s governance record increasingly came under scrutiny in two election cycles researched, the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), largely maintained its old strategies of power legitimation. However, it altered the message in order to reflect the changing intensity of political contestation, an increasingly bellicose political opposition and growing dissent within its own ranks, as well as the shifting economic fortunes of the country. Forced to campaign under these circumstances, ZANU-PF trusted, with notable variations, its old discourse strategies to produce election advertisements that legitimised its hold on power, hegemony and spread its ideology. The findings show that whereas in July, 2018, the message changed to reflect the leadership change, ZANU-PF’s legitimation strategies remained unchanged. Similarly, we note that whereas the ‘them’ that ha...

Critical Arts

ABSTRACT Power struggles, factionalism and chaos in football management bodies are a common pheno... more ABSTRACT Power struggles, factionalism and chaos in football management bodies are a common phenomenon in Zimbabwe. Journalists and the media play a crucial role in these power struggles. However, growing literature on communication and sport in Zimbabwe has under-theorised the subject. Deploying framing theory lens, this research explores the media’s reportage of the “fights” between the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) leadership and their biggest affiliate-the Premier Soccer League (PSL). Focus is on the period when politician-cum-businessman Phillip Chiyangwa served as ZIFA president (2015–2018). Stories for analysis were purposively selected from The Herald and the Newsday. The former is state controlled while the latter is privately owned. In-depth interviews were also conducted with selected sports journalists from the two publications to establish forces behind the positions adopted by the media organisations during the period under study. By demonstrating that ‘big men’ rely on the media to outmaneouvre rivals, the article makes the argument that the two newspapers were complicit in the mediatization of the power struggles between ZIFA and PSL leadership. Critically, due to multidimensional forms of capture, The Herald and Newsday became sycophantic in their framing of the ZIFA and PSL dispute.

Communicare Journal for Communication Sciences in Southern Africa

Drawing on a media-centric framing theory, and utilising qualitative framing analysis, we examine... more Drawing on a media-centric framing theory, and utilising qualitative framing analysis, we examine how selected mainstream newspapers in South Africa framed Sino- South Africa relationships. We observe the ubiquity of negative anti-Chinese frames in the South African mainstream media. We demonstrate that these largely negative frames on China clustered around key issues: its economic relationship with South Africa; human rights issues; and China’s political ties with African regimes. We argue that the negative frames were a result of newspapers’ sourcing routines. Furthermore, we argue that anti-Chinese frames in the South African media sync neatly with a growing negative public perception of China, sustained by global media especially in the West and the US.

African Journalism Studies

African Studies Review

In many African countries, jokes represent one of the many means used by citizens to cope with a ... more In many African countries, jokes represent one of the many means used by citizens to cope with a crisis. Chibuwe and Munoriyarwa explore how Zimbabweans utilize WhatsApp jokes, which are anchored in the concept of the “everyday,” to cope with pandemic-induced lockdowns. COVID-19 jokes provide citizens momentary relief from fear and function as a defense mechanism against COVID-19 and its effects, enabling citizens to confront and rationalize fear, death, and suffering. Chibuwe and Munoriyarwa argue that jokes are also a means of speaking truth to power by disgruntled citizens attempting to cope with a health crisis, in a context characterized by corruption, state repression, and bad governance.

African Language Media, 2020

Global Media Journal African Edition, 2013

Digital Journalism, 2021

Utilizing a constellation of conceptual tenets drawn from critical digital technology theory, fie... more Utilizing a constellation of conceptual tenets drawn from critical digital technology theory, field theory and concepts of digital democracy, this article argues that the post-coup period in Zimbab...

International Journal of Communication, 2016

Debates in Zimbabwe give the impression that mass media are central to the country’s democratizat... more Debates in Zimbabwe give the impression that mass media are central to the country’s democratization. Focusing on two seemingly unrelated but defining events in Zimbabwe’s political life—the framing of the leaked draft constitution (January–February 2012) and Vice President Joice Mujuru’s fall from grace (August 2014–June 2015)—this article investigates whether the concern about the media’s role in Zimbabwe’s democratic project is justified. A comparative analysis of Daily News and The Herald was carried out to ascertain how the two newspapers framed the two events and to judge the extent to which they can be said to be informative and educative. Content analysis of the two publications and in-depth interviews with The Herald news editor and a senior reporter and with Daily News ’ news editor and political editor were used to establish their perceptions regarding their newspapers’ framing of the two events. The article reveals that the two publications’ framing of the events was pol...

Social Media + Society, 2021

In Zimbabwean online spaces, especially Twitter, use of phantom names is widespread. It is arguab... more In Zimbabwean online spaces, especially Twitter, use of phantom names is widespread. It is arguable that this is partially a result of the country’s repressive political environment. It is the names that the nameless Twitter characters select and the motivations for using specific names that are the focus of this present study. The study is grounded in anthroponomastic concepts of pseudonymity and self-naming, and self-presentation and identity theory as well as semiotics of names while methodologically it is qualitative. Specifically, the study deploys archival research and netnography to gather data. The study found out that the ghosts’ adopted names are reflective of what they tweeted. The messages they tweeted were reflective of the online identity that they assumed; however, over and beyond that, their tweets exposed their political, and to an extent, religious inclinations. The tweets also exposed their origins and the spaces they once occupied or currently occupy. Finally, th...

African Journalism Studies, 2020

Indigenous-language media in Zimbabwe and Africa have not elicited as much academic scrutiny as t... more Indigenous-language media in Zimbabwe and Africa have not elicited as much academic scrutiny as the English-language media. However, there is an emerging scholarship that focuses on indigenous-language media in Zimbabwe. This scholarship focuses more on audiences and texts. This paper takes a different dimension by interrogating the perceptions of English-language newspaper journalists towards indigenous language newspapers, indigenous language newspaper journalists and journalism. The paper, grounded in decoloniality, seeks to demonstrate that coloniality is a key determinant of the poor performance of indigenous-language newspapers in Zimbabwe. Data were gathered through in-depth interviews with selected mainstream English-language newspaper journalists. The findings demonstrate that the journalists view a career in indigenous-language media as not being lucrative, less respectable, and leading nowhere; and view the indigenous-language newspapers journalists as "rejects". The content of the indigenous-language newspapers is generally viewed as trivial and therefore inconsequential, while indigenous languages are viewed as difficult. The paper concludes that these views are reflective of the pervasive nature of coloniality and western modernity's "othering" of non-western realities and knowledge.

Journal of Applied Journalism & Media Studies, 2020

The post-2000 political-economic crisis in Zimbabwe saw the migration of journalists as political... more The post-2000 political-economic crisis in Zimbabwe saw the migration of journalists as political and economic refugees. Many, if not all, of these claimed persecution at home and some amongst them established online publications with an interest on Zimbabwe. But some of the journalists that remained in Zimbabwe became activists in support of either the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) regime or the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Another group joined civil society whilst others joined either the ruling ZANU-PF party or the opposition political parties, mainly MDC. In the same context, some activists joined newsrooms. In this context, the distinction between journalism and political activism became increasingly blurred. The article, deploying Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory, explores how and why this morphing of journalists into activists and vice versa unfolded and its impact on the journalistic field. The findings demonstrate that ...

Journal of African Media Studies, 2020

There is growing academic scholarship on indigenous language media in Africa. The scholarship has... more There is growing academic scholarship on indigenous language media in Africa. The scholarship has mostly tended to focus on the content and political economy of indigenous language newspapers. The scholarship also suggests that much needs to be done in inculcating indigenous languages and indigenous language journalism in journalism education. Grounded in decoloniality, this article explores journalism training practices in selected institutions of higher learning in Zimbabwe. The intention is to unravel the absence or existence of training for indigenous journalism and perceptions of lecturers and attitudes of students towards indigenous language media and journalism. The article also seeks to establish whether there are any attempts to de-westernize journalism, media and communication studies. Methodologically, in-depth interviews were used to gather data from lecturers and students of journalism and media studies at colleges and universities in Zimbabwe. Findings show that the co...

Communicatio, 2020

The July 2018 Zimbabwe national elections were characterised by one unique feature: the extensive... more The July 2018 Zimbabwe national elections were characterised by one unique feature: the extensive use of social media especially Twitter, WhatsApp and Facebook, especially by the key presidential contenders Nelson Chamisa and Emmerson Mnangagwa in the struggle for hegemony. The cyber-contestation also became evident between Chamisa's followers nicknamed "Nerorists" and Mnangagwa's followers nicknamed "Varakashi." Fake news and mudslinging became defining elements during these digital propaganda battles. The study, utilising insights from the (digital) public sphere theory and alternative public sphere theory, interrogates the nature of the Twitter war and the "discussions" around key electoral candidates and issues and the implications of the Twitter war on democracy. It further examines how these issues moved from the online platforms to offline spaces. The study concludes that although social media gained prominence in the election, its contribution to democracy is paradoxical. The anonymity and open nature of social media provides an opportunity for participation, but it is precisely this that is also its downside: it provides rooms for emergence of cyber ghosts. The space's invasion by cyber storm troopers and/or cyber ghosts and netizens serving elite interests undermined social media's liberative potential as it resulted in irrational "debates," mudslinging, insults, and outright lies.