Radio in Africa : publics, cultures, communities / edited by Liz Gunner, Dina Ligaga and Dumisani Moyo.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Gunner, Elizabeth, editor.

Ligaga, Dina, editor.

Moyo, Dumisani, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Radio--Africa.

Radio.

Radio and theater--Africa.

Radio and theater.

Radio in propaganda--Africa.

Radio in propaganda.

Radio in religion--Africa.

Radio in religion.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (368 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Johannesburg : Wits University Press, 2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Radio has been called 'Africa's medium'. Its wide accessibility is a result of a number of factors, including the liberalisation policies of the 'third wave' of democracy and its ability to transcend the barriers of cost, geographical boundaries, the colonial linguistic heritage and low literacy levels. This sets it apart from other media platforms in facilitating political debate, shaping identities and assisting listeners as they negotiate the challenges of everyday life on the continent. Radio in Africa breaks new ground by bringing together essays on the multiple roles of radio in the lives of listeners in Anglophone, Lusophone and Francophone Africa. Some essays turn to the history of radio and its part in the culture and politics of countries such as Angola and South Africa. Others - such as the essay on Mali, gender and religion - show how radio throws up new tensions yet endorses social innovation and the making of new publics. A number of essays look to radio's current role in creating listening communities that radically shift the nature of the public sphere. Essays on the genre of the talk show in Ghana, Kenya and South Africa point to radio's role in creating a robust public sphere. Radio's central role in the emergence of informed publics in fragile national spaces is covered in essays on the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia. The book also highlights radio's links to the new media, its role in resistance to oppressive regimes such as Zimbabwe, and points in several cases - for example in the essay on Uganda - to the importance of African languages in building modern communities that embrace both local and global knowledge.

Contents:

Cover

Half-title

Title

Copyright

Contents

Acknowledgements

Contributors

Abbreviations and acronyms

Introduction: The Soundscapes of Radio in Africa

An 'ordinary' medium

Language, contestation and the creation of new publics

Radio and the emergence of multiple voices

The dilemma of the new publics

Subjectivities, cultures, communities

Radio and the nation

Endnotes

Part 1: Radio, Popular Democracy and New Publics

1 Talk Radio and Politics in Ghana: Exploring Civic and (Un)Civil Discourse in the Public Sphere

Talk radio and democratic citizenship

Assessing political discourse: Tenor, tone and trends

Conclusion

Endnote

2 From Diffusion to Dialogic Space: FM Radio Stations in Kenya

Introduction

The context of FM radio in Kenya

Evolving dialogic and democratic cultures: FM radio talk shows in Kenya

The people's parliament: No more culture of silence

3 Contesting Mainstream Media Power: Mediating the Zimbabwe Crisis through Clandestine Radio

The rebirth of clandestine radio

Short Wave Radio Africa: Connecting to publics in a restricted environment

Breaking down gates and contesting mainstream media power

Government strategies to silence clandestine broadcasters

4 Equivocal Resonances: Islamic Revival and Female Radio 'Preachers' in Urban Mali

The social and political locations of Islamic moral renewal

Voice, mediation and charismatic authority

Voice and (dis)embodied authority

Part 2: The Cultures of Radio: Languages of the Everyday

5 What Is the Relationship between Hate Radio and Violence? Rethinking Rwanda's 'Radio Machete'

Media and media effects in the Rwandan genocide

Problems with the conventional wisdom.

Hypothesis testing

An alternative model of media effects in the Rwandan genocide

6 Why Radio Is Africa's Medium of Choice in the Global Age

Radio Zimbabwe

Methodology

Death notices on air: Zviziviso Zverufu/Izaziso Zemfa

7 Bantustan Identity, Censorship and Subversion on Northern Sotho Radio under Apartheid, 1960s-80s

Vernacular radio and Bantustan identity: Northern Sotho Radio, 1960-80s

'Motheeletši, theeletša ka tsebe tše tharo': Censorship, translation and subversion on Northern Sotho radio

8 South African Radio in a Saucepan

From metropolitan relay to household saucepan

Way down south

Post-independence radio beyond the Limpopo

Revolt of the ordinary

South Africa: The post-apartheid radioscape

Voices of change

Conclusion: nation, community and market

9 Radio Theatre: The Moral Play in the Historical Context of State Control and Censorship of Broadcasting in Kenya

Radio Theatre: An historical glance

A culture of censorship and control in Kenya

Operating under the radar: Radio Theatre as a moral play

The multiple meanings of the moral play: A question of interpretation

10 IsiZulu Radio Drama and the Modern Subject: Restless Identities in South Africa in the 1970s

Space, voice and radio

Voice, space and the domestic

Women without a home: Abangane Ababi

Control at all costs: uBhekifa

Present incursions

Part 3: Radio and Community: Voices of Change

11 Radio Okapi - 100 per cent Congolese

Political context

Background to Radio Okapi

Editorial independence

Logistics

The DRC media scene

Radio Okapi: Nuts and bolts

Funding, resources and sustainability.

Radio Okapi's legacy

What next?

12 Talk Radio, Democracy and the Public Sphere: 567MW in Cape Town

Talk radio in South Africa

Overview of the literature

Talk radio and the public sphere

Audience contributions to public-sphere debates

Conclusions

13 Radio and Religion: A Case of Difference and Diversity

Stations and programmes: Religious communities?

Radio as a form of community building

Radio as transformer of religion

Gender and shaping the 'voice of authority'

14 Voices from Without: The African National Congress, Its Radio, Its Allies and Exile, 1960-84

Radio Freedom

Voice of Freedom

Radio Freedom after the Soweto uprising

15 Airing the Politics of Nation: Radio in Angola, Past and Present

A brief overview of radio in Angola, 1930-1975

Radio as a cultural technology: Sounding out the nation

Tuning in in late colonial Angola

Radio and counter-insurgency

Radio after independence

Radio in the present

16 Radio in Zones of Conflict: Abnormal Measures for Abnormal Circumstances

Case study - Somalia

Background

Greater Somali and the diaspora

The Somali media scene

Getting started

Foot in the door

What kind of radio does Somalia really need?

So what have we learned?

17 Multiple Publics, Multiple Languages: Radio and the Contestations of Broadcasting Language Policy in Uganda

Language, complexities and citizens

Language, radio and leaders

The current media landscape

A short history of Ugandan participation

The language mix

Re-examining language policy for radio

From the horse's mouth: Interviews and insights

References

Index.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 286-305) and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-86814-705-3

OCLC:

1016610986