Communication Rights in Africa

Communication Rights in Africa
Author: Tendai Chari
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2023-09-01
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1000955044

This ground-breaking volume examines enduring and emerging discourses around communication rights in Africa, arguing that they should be considered an integral component of the human rights discourse in Africa. Drawing on a broad range of case studies across the continent, the volume considers what constitutes communication rights in Africa, who should protect them, against whom, and how communication rights relate to broader human rights. While the case studies highlight the variation in communicative rights experiences between countries, they also coalesce around common tropes and practices for the implementation and expression of communication rights. Deploying a variety of innovative theoretical and methodological approaches, the chapters scrutinise different facets of communication rights in the context of both offline and digital communication realities. The contributions provide illuminating accounts on language rights, digital exclusion, digital activism, citizen journalism, media regulation and censorship, protection of intellectual property rights, politics of mobile data, and politicisation of social media. This is the first collection to consider communication in Africa using a rights-based lens. The book will appeal to researchers, academics, communication activists, and media practitioners at all levels in the fields of media studies, journalism, human rights, political science, public policy, as well as general readers who are keen to know about the status of communication rights in Africa.

Telecommunications in Africa

Telecommunications in Africa
Author: Eli M. Noam
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 315
Release: 1999-02-25
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0195356276

A modern telecommunications network is an essential infrastructure for the world's developing nations. The emergence of new technologies, the entrance of supra-national carriers, and deregulation in the telecommunications sector have resulted in the globalization of telecommunications and the opening of markets on every continent. Collecting the work of 19 expert contributors, this book provides a comprehensive examination of what African countries are doing to build their telecommunications capabilities. Africa has historically lagged behind other regions in developing its telecommunications infrastructure, and the penetration rate for basic service is still relatively low. But as some African nations undergo restructuring, they have begun to open their networks to foreign investors and regional cooperative ventures to expand basic and advanced telecommunications services. The contributors discuss the uneven pace of economic, regulatory, and social change among African nations as state telecommunications monopolies maintain their hold in some countries and give way to privatization in others. Analyzing the political and economic changes of the 1990s, the contributors provide clues about how Africa can shake off decades of inertia and prepare to take part in the global information economy. Edited by an internationally recognized authority on telecommunications, this volume is the latest in a series that surveys telecommunications in the major regions of the world. Thorough and accessible, it is a valuable resource for students and scholars in the areas of communications, economics, regulatory law, telecommunications engineering, and African studies, as well as telecommunications professionals and policy makers.

Pedagogical Appropriation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) by West African Educators

Pedagogical Appropriation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) by West African Educators
Author: Kathryn Toure
Publisher: African Books Collective
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2016-08-06
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9956763314

West African teachers and professors who are appropriating information and communication technologies (ICT) are making it part and parcel of education and everyday life. In Mali and beyond, they adapt ICT to their milieus and work as cultural agents, mediating between technology and society. They yearn to use ICT to make education more relevant to life, facilitate and enhance African participation in global debates and scholarly production, and evolve how Africa and Africans are projected and perceived. In sum, educators are harnessing ICT for its transformative possibilities. The changes apparent in student-teacher relations (more interactive) and classrooms (more dialogical) suggest that ICT can be a catalyst for pedagogical change, including in document-poor contexts and ones weighed down by legacies of colonialism. Learning from the perspectives and experiences of educators pioneering the use of ICT in education in Africa can inform educational theory, practice and policy and deepen understandings of the concept of appropriation as a process of cultural change.

African Communication Systems and the Digital Age

African Communication Systems and the Digital Age
Author: Eno Ime Akpabio
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 221
Release: 2021-02-21
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1000342549

The book covers African communication systems, discussing modes and forms of communication across West, East and Southern Africa and comparing them with traditional and new media. African Communication Systems and the Digital Age contextualizes communication by bringing to the table African contributions to the field, examining the importance of African indigenous forms of communication and the intersection of African communication systems and the digital age. The book covers various concepts, models, theories and classifications of African communication systems, including instrumental communication, types of African music and their communication properties, indigenous writing systems, non-verbal communication, and mythological communication. Through careful analysis of communication in Africa, this book provides insights into the various modes of communication in use prior to the advent of traditional and new media as well as their continued relevance in the digital age. African Communication Systems and the Digital Age will be of interest to students and scholars of African communication.

Understanding Ubuntu for Enhancing Intercultural Communications

Understanding Ubuntu for Enhancing Intercultural Communications
Author: Mukuni, Joseph
Publisher: IGI Global
Total Pages: 299
Release: 2021-05-28
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1799879496

Given the importance of cross-cultural competence, it is important that scholars from different parts of the world describe the conceptual frameworks underlying their cultures to provide people with knowledge helpful for understanding and navigating cultural barriers and promoting harmony and productivity in places of work. The literature is replete with reference points for understanding Eurocentric worldviews. Little has been written about non-Eurocentric worldviews with respect to the subject of socio-cultural harmony and interpersonal relations such as Ubuntu, Africa’s indigenous philosophy and its relevancy. This philosophy teaches the importance of maintaining good human relations and sensitivity to the wellbeing of other people both as individuals and collectively. In the teachings of this African conceptual framework, the wellbeing of others is more important than that of self. Another important distinguishing feature of Ubuntu is that it places great value on communalism as opposed to individualism. The tenets of Ubuntu include human-centeredness, teamwork, collaboration, cooperation, respect for diversity of opinion, and joint consideration of problems. These tenets can be applied for intercultural competence and communications. Understanding Ubuntu for Enhancing Intercultural Communications sheds some light on Ubuntu, Africa’s unique philosophy, and explores how the knowledge of Ubuntu can help minimize cross-cultural communication barriers. Within this context, the chapters work to make readers aware of the existence of an African worldview, specifically Ubuntu, and its possible contribution to interpersonal communication. This book also shares the lived experiences of being born and raised in sub-Saharan Africa where Ubuntu is a way of life. This book is essential for businesses seeking to expand internationally and managers overseeing diverse workforces as well as business executives, government officials, public relations officers, academicians, researchers, and students including those studying African studies, world religions, international business, international relations, management, communication, and more.

Strategic Communications in Africa

Strategic Communications in Africa
Author: Hugh Mangeya
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2021-12-24
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1000533786

Strategic communication is a pre-requisite for the achievement of organisational goals, and an effective strategic communication plan is vital for organisational success. However, systems and models dominant in the West may not necessarily be best suited for the sub-Saharan Africa reality, where many organisations lack adequate financial resources to develop and implement an effective strategic communication plan. This book examines current practices in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as the challenges faced and the intersection with culture. It packages inspiring debates, experiences and insights relating to strategic communication in all types of institutions, including private and public sector organisations, governmental organisations and NGOs, political parties as well as social movements in the sub-Saharan context. It explores how culture is integral to the attainment of strategic communication goals, and diverse case studies across socio-economic contexts offer insights into the successes of organisations across Africa, including Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Lesotho and Nigeria. This unique edited collection is a valuable resource for worldwide scholars, researchers and students of strategic communication and organisational studies, as well as related fields including public relations, advertising, political and health communication and international studies.

Routledge Handbook of African Media and Communication Studies

Routledge Handbook of African Media and Communication Studies
Author: Winston Mano
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 286
Release: 2021-02-12
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1351273191

This handbook comprises fresh and incisive research focusing on African media, culture and communication. The chapters from a cross-section of scholars dissect the forces shaping the field within a changing African context. It adds critical corpora of African scholarship and theory that places the everyday worlds, needs and uses of Africans first. The book goes beyond critiques of the marginality of African approaches in media and communication studies to offer scholars the theoretical and empirical toolkit needed to start building critical corpora of African scholarship and theory that places the everyday worlds, needs and uses of Africans first. Decoloniality demands new epistemological interventions in African media, culture and communication, and this book is an important interlocutor in this space. In a globally interconnected world, changing patterns of authority and power pose new challenges to the ways in which media institutions are constituted and managed, as well as how communication and media policy is negotiated and the manner in which citizens engage with increasing media opportunities. The handbook focuses on the interrelationships of the local and the global and the concomitant consequences for media practice, education and citizen engagement in today’s Africa. Altogether, the book foregrounds convivial epistemologies relevant for locating African media and communication in the pluriverse. This handbook is an essential read for critical media, communications, cultural studies and journalism scholars.

Information and Communication Technologies in South African Secondary Schools

Information and Communication Technologies in South African Secondary Schools
Author: Sarah J. Howie
Publisher: HSRC Press
Total Pages: 138
Release: 2005
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 9780796920409

Increasing learner access to information and communication technologies (ICT) in the curriculum is strategically important to ensure that school leavers moving into the labour market or into further study have the appropriate background and capacities to succeed.