Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) policies have inaugurated a new paradigm in postcolonial governance that is characterized by a predilection for market instrumentality in policy articulation. A review of colonial and, indeed, early post-colonial communication policies demonstrates that the state had always resisted the lure of the market because of the quest to democratize media access. The early postcolonial state thought of national resources as to be regulated more by the requirements of national community need than by the rules of exchange-value. This article puts the development of broadcasting policy in Ghana into historical perspective and shows how commodification has been resisted until the implementation of SAP policies in the last two decades. It argues that the state’s abandonment of responsibility in relation to the business of broadcasting will come at a heavy price of a non-democratized electronic media, as rural areas remain unattractive to broadcasting-for-profit enterprises.

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This paper examines three major paradigms—mass communications, political economy, and poststructuralism—to demonstrate how the process of knowledge production erases their connection with their postcolonial subjects and locations. This mapping indicates that what one perceives to be at the margins actually subtends or holds together the theoretical centre. As such, I explore and explain how a canonic economy of value operates within the field of communication and cultural studies. This discussion is followed by a brief reflection on the institutional, and potentially imperial, effects of this canonic economy on university programs and curricula and on the distinction between what is required and what is optional or elective in a course. Résumé : Cet article examine trois paradigmes majeurs — les communications de masse, l’économie politique et le poststructuralisme — afin de démontrer la manière dont le processus de production de savoir efface leur connection avec leurs sujets et lieux postcoloniaux. Cette cartographie nous démontre que ce qui est perçu par certains comme étant situé en marge, en fait, sous-tend et soude le centre théorique. Ainsi, j’explore et j’explique de quelle façon une économie canonique des valeurs évolue dans le champ des communications et des cultural studies. Cette discussion est suivie d’une brève réflexion sur les effets institutionnels, potentiellement impérialistes, de cette économie canonique sur les programmes universitaires et sur la distinction entre ce qui est obligatoire et ce qui est optionnel, ou au choix, dans un cours.

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This study investigated the adoption of sanitation innovations introduced in Nadowli-Kaleo District in Upper West Region of Ghana as part of the efforts to attain open defecation free (ODF) status. The study follows a Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) programme implementation in the district in which less than half of the households in the community adopted the ODF innovations introduced. It explored why some community members adopt ODF innovations and why others do not. The study also investigated factors that determined continued use of the innovations and the effects of sustained adoption on the community. A qualitative research design was used to gather data from 252 households across seven area councils in the Nadowli-Kaleo District. An interview instrument was used together with, non-participant observation and key informant interviews to collect qualitative data. The study established that: while effective communication of innovation resulted in widespread awareness, low income levels significantly accounted for households' inability to sustain and utilize latrines. Other factors that influenced sustainable adoption of ODF innovations are the health and security advantages as well as the comfort and dignifying experience of privacy. In addition, cultural beliefs contributed to low levels of attitudinal change resulting in resistance to the adoption and sustainable use of ODF innovations. We recommend that future ODF programs based on CLTS module should intensify behaviour change communication (BCC) strategies such as interpersonal communication, mass media and role-play to bring about attitudinal change after the creation of awareness.