2013. Vol. 3, Núm. 2 (2013): New(?) African Communication Environment
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Ítem Racial equality activism in Brazil, communication via networks and internet: afropress news agency(Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, 2013) Sedrez Chaves, Leslie; Cogo, DeniseThe objective of this article is to analyze the processes of establishing activist social communication networks by black social movements in Brazil related to Afro-Brazilians’ struggles for citizenship. Recently, these struggles have culminated in the approval of the Racial Equality Act and government affirmative action policies for Brazilian university admissions. Within the scope of these processes, we analyze a specific contemporary experiment in networking by the black movement, developed by Afropress news agency. Initially, we review historic processes of inequality, resistance and mobilization of black populations in Brazil, identifying the establishment of social-communication activist networks starting with the uses black movements make of information and communication technology in their struggles for racial equality and citizenship for Afro- Descendents in the country. Second, from a Latin American cultural studies perspective, we analyze a specific case of internet use by Afropress news agency (www.afropress.com.br), which uses network communication as its main strategy for generating communicative flows to build and add visibility to the socio-cultural experiences of Afro-Brazilians and the agendas of struggles for racial equality.Ítem Medios de comunicación e identidad. Africanidad en Portugal(Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, 2013) Carriço Dos Reis, Bruno Miguel; Marôpo, LidiaEn este artículo haremos un repaso al panorama de los estudios de comunicación en Portugal que reflexionan, desde los años noventa del siglo XX, acerca de la relación entre medios de comunicación y la identidad africana (en particular de los jóvenes luso-africanos). ¿Cómo las identidades son negociadas, construidas y reconstruidas en ambientes de intenso consumo mediático? ¿Qué papel ocupan los medios de comunicación como agentes de socialización? ¿Cómo la esfera mediática contribuye para la construcción de las identidades (personal y social)? ¿De qué forma las identidades minoritarias son reconocidas o silenciadas? Proponemos debatir la cuestión de la identidad africana a partir de tres tópicos centrales de análisis, estructurados en otros tantos apartados de nuestro artículo: 1. Identidades sociales y reconocimiento; 2. Identidades sociales y representación mediática y 3. Identidades sociales y consumo mediático.Ítem Mitos e imaginarios migratorios en la recepción de la televisión en Marruecos(Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, 2013) Benítez Eyzaguirre, LucíaEl análisis de los discursos de los candidatos a la migración de Marruecos en relación a las imágenes ofrecidas por las televisiones occidentales muestra un imaginario mítico de las posibilidades de vida en los países del Norte. El trabajo de campo1, realizado en Marruecos durante dos años, trató de recoger la información más variada, reuniendo un total de 204 informantes tanto en ciudades como en zonas rurales del país. Los resultados se analizaron con el apoyo del software cualitativo Atlas.ti, que permite trazar mapas mentales de las opiniones y discursos de los entrevistados. En el proceso previo a la decisión de migrar, los candidatos tratan de confirmar las imágenes vistas en las televisiones a través de las conversaciones sociales y de la experiencia de otros, en un clima de euforia colectiva. Los migrantes marroquíes se dirigen a un lugar imaginario e idealizado. La idea de movilidad se relaciona sistemáticamente con Occidente, y está asociada a la calidad de vida, el capital social y al consumo, cuestiones que se mitifican ante las reducidas expectativas que entienden que les ofrece la vida en Marruecos.Ítem E-learning platform for senegalese immigrant community focused on media literacy(Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, 2013) García Martul, David; Franco Álvarez, GuillerminaThis paper is result of a research Project PCI funded by AECID between University Carlos III of Madrid and University Cheikh Anta Diop. Our aim is to design and edit an e-learning platform characterized by a user interface adapted to the cultural heritage of Senegalese immigrant communities living in Madrid. This project, implemented by the NGO “Casa de Senegal” was developed using a qualitative methodology of participant observation and interviews with teachers and students of this center. As a result it has been developed a map of icons typical of Wolof culture for use in representing the commands in the e-learning platform: e-Senegalaise. Platform created specifically to provide a web environment for contextual learning in a Senegalese immigrant community. As a result it was found that Senegalese immigrants had digital and media skills enough to be able to act autonomously if possessed of a platform for media literacy. However, its competences are limited when try access to basic local news as strategy for his social integration. Local news such as training courses or social grants. A second conclusion is that access to local media plays an essential role for them as a factor of social inclusion as we find a greater integration between those with predominant local information.Ítem Conocer la alteridad. Depth of field: una aproximación colectiva a África(Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, 2013) Jiménez, RosarioEl propósito de este artículo es realizar una aproximación a la fotografía postcolonial africana a través de la obra del grupo nigeriano DOF (Depth of Field). Se tratará en él lo que se denomina Fotografía Transafricana; una fotografía que rompe con los bordes del continente y que niega el carácter identitario que desde Occidente se ha utilizado para construir ‘lo africano’ desde un punto de vista colonial. Las fotografías de esta nueva generación nada tienen que ver con lo naif, lo primitivo o lo rudo –características éstas asociadas a lo que podríamos etiquetar como “lo africano-occidental”–, sino que se insertan en el diálogo global del arte postmoderno y rompen con el etnocentrismo imperante en las artes. Es importante tratar este tema desde el mundo académico para legitimar unas prácticas que cuestionan no sólo el círculo y el sistema del arte, sino también la construcción social de un imaginario que a día de hoy sigue imperante en el mundo Occidental. No hay que olvidar asimismo que una parte importante de la formación de estos fotógrafos se ha desarrollado en Occidente, por lo que es necesario hablar también de los flujos migratorios del arte y de sus significados. Las fotografías de DOF, además de tratar el tema ‘del Otro’, promueven el debate sobre la pertinencia de la entrada de África en un mundo globalizado desde el que distribuir sus obras de arte al mismo tiempo que las deslocaliza de su territorio. Esto ha causado una gran brecha no sólo en el imaginario occidental sino entre los fotógrafos africanos más tradicionales como es el caso de J. D. Okhai Ojeikere, Tam Fiofori, Jide Adeniyi-Jones y Sunmi Smart-Cole.Ítem Internet y África: de la brecha a la esperanza digital. Redes, libertades y comunicación(Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, 2013) González Pascual, Alberto; García Jiménez, AntonioCon una mirada crítica y comparativa se esboza la realidad del universo digital en África, teniendo en cuenta las diferencias regionales existentes. De modo descriptivo, nos interesamos por cuestiones como la situación del acceso a Internet, las políticas de infraestructuras y regulatorias existentes, la economía digital, el impacto de los nuevos medios, las iniciativas de gobierno electrónico y participación ciudadana digital, y algunos aspectos de la colonización cultural que se puede producir a cuentas de una red claramente occidentalizada.Ítem Candidate representation and media biases in Tanzania(Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, 2013) Bariki Kaale, KaanaeliThe promises of democracy in Tanzania underscore a wide range hopes for the nation, notably with regard to media freedom and freedom of speech. However, the intensifying privatization of the media that has characterized the last two decades of Tanzania’s emerging democracy has shifted the focus of professional journalists towards high-impact coverage of known government officials (Schudson, 2008), narrowing the breadth of news and political coverage. The agenda-setting effect of this kind of journalism reflects the often biased interests of media shareholders (McCombs & Shaw, 1972) and also affects the visibility of political candidates, hindering just and fair representation in the electoral process. This study used qualitative and quantitative content analysis of the election news coverage in six Swahili mainstream newspapers to examine the relationship between newspaper election coverage and voting outcomes in Tanzania’s 2010 Presidential election. The newspapers were studied during the three months just prior to the Tanzania Presidential election of 2010. The results of this analysis reveal some major shortcomings of electoral media coverage, including prevalent biases and uneven representation. In addition, there appears to be a significant relationship between newspaper election coverage and voting outcomes.Ítem China and the african internet: perspectives from Kenya and Ethiopia(Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, 2013) Gagliardone, IginioThrough the lens of China in Africa, this paper explores the transformations in the relationship between the Internet and the state. China’s economic success, impressive growth of Internet users and relative stability have quietly promoted an example of how the Internet can be deployed within the larger political and economic strategies of developing states, moving beyond the democratization paradigm promoted in the West. New evidence suggests that this model is becoming increasingly popular, but it is not clear why and how it is spreading. Through a case study comparison of an emerging democracy, Kenya, and a semiauthoritarian country, Ethiopia, where China has recently increased its involvement in the communications sector, this paper investigates whether and how the ideas of state stability, development and community that characterize the strategies pursued by the Chinese government are influencing and legitimizing the development of a less open model of the Internet. It analyses how new ideas, technologies and norms integrate with existing ones and which factors influence their adoption or rejection. It is based on fieldwork conducted in Ethiopia and in Kenya between 2011 and 2013, where data was collected through mapping Internet related projects involving Chinese companies and authorities, analysing Internet policies and regulations, and interviewing officials in Ministries of Communication, media lawyers, Internet activists, and Chinese employed in the media and telecommunication sector in Kenya and Ethiopia.Ítem Una aproximación a la educación en medios en África(Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, 2013) Torregrosa Carmona, Juan-FranciscoEn este artículo se hace una aproximación a la educación en medios en África. La llamada Media Literacy es un movimiento social, académico y cultural con especial desarrollo en determinados países de América Latina y una amplia presencia en Europa y, en menor medida, en otros continentes. La UNESCO se refirió expresamente en 1979 a la importancia de conocer por parte de la sociedad cuántas implicaciones corresponden a los medios de comunicación, por su trascendencia en los más diferentes ámbitos del día a día de los ciudadanos. Más de tres decenios después, las aspiraciones de una adecuada educación mediática se amplían a las nuevas plataformas de medios, con Internet a la cabeza, y siguen siendo motivo de interés como pilar de participación cívica y profundización democrática. Todo ello sin olvidar el papel que le corresponde en todas las latitudes respecto a la comunicación para el desarrollo y a la comunicación para el cambio social.Ítem The ethnic hate speech was networked: what political discussions on social media reveal about the 2013 general elections in Kenya(Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, 2013) Mwende Maweu, JacintaThis article examines if the increased political discussions on social media especially Twitter and Facebook before and after the March 4th, 2013 general elections in Kenya translated to a more robust alternative public sphere that broke the hegemony of the traditional media as agenda setters or an alternative space for the audience to vent out their frustrations and grievances about the election. In the last most contentious elections in 2007, in Kenya, both new and old media were blamed for fueling ethnic hate speech which culminated into the 2007/ 2008 post election violence. It is argued in this text that although voting patterns in the March 2013 elections were clearly along ethnic lines just like in 2007, there was no physical post election violence like was the case in 2008. What was clearly evident there was ethnic hate speech before and after the general elections on social media networks. We therefore observe that unlike in 2008 where ethnic violence was fought out in the streets, in the 2013 general elections, the ethnic war was networked. The article uses qualitative content analysis of some of the messages sent on Twitter and Facebook to argue that social media platforms only acted as alternative spaces for Kenyans to fight out their ethnic political wars and not alternative public spheres for constructive political deliberation. So it concludes by observing that social media networks in the 2013 general elections in Kenya acted as ‘opium of the masses’ only serving the function of keeping Kenya quiet and peaceful to prevent a repeat of the 2008 post election violence, but not alternative public spheres to facilitate constructive political deliberation.Ítem Foreign correspondence from sub-saharan Africa: an evolving communicational paradigm shift(Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, 2013) Nuno Vicente, PauloA sizable portion of our everyday knowledge about Sub-Saharan Africa comes from the work of international news reporters. Even though these news actors play a critical role in the communication of the distant Other, frequently criticized for its representational deficits, scholar empirical research on the work of foreign correspondents has been considerably neglected: it is now decades old, it lacks a systematic examination of the on the ground realities of journalism in Africa and of the evolving work of professionals and Pro-Ams supported by networked digital media. This article analyses the evolving professional cultures and newswork of those individuals (micro). It inspects long-term trajectories in international journalism combined with short-term developments based on transformations on microelectronics and digitization. We conduct the first recorded Pan-African online survey on the work of international news reporters, collecting answers from 124 participants in 41 countries. These findings are complemented by semi-structured interviews with 43 professionals based in Nairobi, Dakar and Johannesburg. Our findings challenge the narrative of international news reporting as a dying breed. Instead, they support a nuanced view towards localized continuities and localized ruptures in contemporary post-industrial mediascape: its socio-demographics express a considerably precarious new economy of foreign correspondence – particularly, in the case of freelance workers – while the use of network-based digital media is driving the field towards the rising of a multilayered confederacy of distinct correspondences.