The Decolonial Turn: Towards a Southern Theory in Media Studies

Journalism education, research, and practice in Africa: Toward a transformative approach

“…This includes, in most cases, a history of colonialism, oppression, and a legacy of Eurocentric modernity all of which represent an integral part of the contemporary reality and of the characteristics of the socio-cultural, political, and media landscapes in which African journalists perform their work. Similarly, Moyo (2020: 189–190) argues that ‘The problem of coloniality must be at the centre of the interdiscipline's critical reflection in order to build the field's self-understanding in relation to its methodologies and data gathering techniques as the tools with which knowledge is produced.’ In other words, deeply rooted issues about the colonisation of knowledge in Africa need to be addressed in order to develop emancipatory frameworks for research relevant to local contexts.…”

“…As part of a growing literature on African journalism, Moyo (2020: 261) argues that the power of de-Westernising media and communication studies will be ‘derived from the trans-epistemic intercultural dialogue as a way of unlearning Eurocentrism and searching for new loci of enunciation for projects of theory building in the field’. Scholars like Wasserman and de Beer (2009: 429) who have shown strong interest in exploring challenges linked to global journalism also state that, ‘Theories about how journalism should be defined, what its relationship with society is, how it should be taught and how it should be practiced ought to be constructed within a globally inclusive, dialogic setting.’ This is a point canvassed by Hafez (2009) who suggests that journalism professionals and researchers should look beyond the leading Anglo-American worldview to provide different views of journalism that encourage greater knowledge and understanding of other sociocultural practices and beliefs.…”

“…Against the background of postmodern and postcolonial approaches to normative media theory, African scholars have been on an intellectual quest to develop frameworks allowing for the examination of media and communication from an African perspective (Fourie, 2008). However, the debate over whether non-Western postcolonial countries like many African nations can ‘produce [their] own radical critical media theory informed by [their] colonial subalternity in the Euro-American world system’ (Moyo, 2020: 19) remains ongoing. As Moyo (2020) argues, while independence of many non-Western countries has, to an extent, put an end to the physical realm of colonialism, media and communication scholarship is still strongly influenced by Western and colonial epistemologies.…”

“…However, the debate over whether non-Western postcolonial countries like many African nations can ‘produce [their] own radical critical media theory informed by [their] colonial subalternity in the Euro-American world system’ (Moyo, 2020: 19) remains ongoing. As Moyo (2020) argues, while independence of many non-Western countries has, to an extent, put an end to the physical realm of colonialism, media and communication scholarship is still strongly influenced by Western and colonial epistemologies. To address such gaps, African scholars have shown a significant interest in developing local worldviews and notions such as the concept of Ubuntu , which they consider as representative of African values and embodying ‘a fundamental truth about humanity as a whole’ (Christians, 2004: 250; Kasoma, 1996).…”

“…In other words, such approaches may be unable to address underlying currents and influences that form part of the reality of many postcolonial countries shaped by centuries of colonialism and in which the media have played a crucial role in building the contemporary reality. As Moyo (2020: 23) argues, ‘The Global South still endures the psycho-cultural trauma of the legacies of slavery, colonialism, apartheid, and the vagaries of neo-colonialism and new racism that are dehumanising.’ Such legacies have the power to undermine the efforts of a strong collective working toward freeing knowledge from colonial domination. A relevant approach to de-Westernising media and communication scholarship in Africa should address this issue upfront.…”