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Building an Imperial Broadcasting Network as the Empire Disintegrated: The Birth of Radio in the French Sub-Saharan African Colonies During Decolonization

Thomas Leyris

Journal of Radio & Audio Media, volume 29, issue 1 (2022), pp. 120-135

"Whereas France owned the second most important empire in the world in 1945, the colonial domination paradoxically leaned very little on radio broadcasting. It was not until 1954 that the French governement, under the impulsion of Pierre Schaeffer, inventor of the “musique concrète,” launched a ... more

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Radio Broadcasting and Indonesian Nationalism: During the Last Decade of Dutch Colonialism

Darmanto, Masduki, Hari Wiryawan

Journal of Radio & Audio Media, volume 29, issue 1 (2022), pp. 104-119

"This paper discusses how radio during the last decade of Dutch colonial era had served as an agent of nationalism in Indonesia. This paper applies a literature study using a historical approach that focused on Soloche Radio Vereeniging (SRV) and the Eastern Radio network, which were operational fro ... more

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Mahatma Gandhi and Mass Media: Mediating Conflict and Social Change

Teresa Joseph

London; New York: Routledge (2022), xiv, 180 pp.

"This book explores Gandhi's engagement with print news media. It examines how Gandhi, the man and his message, negotiated with the sociopolitical circumstances of his milieu and the methods of communication that he adopted towards this end. It analyses the role that he played in building up alterna ... more

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A Polycentric Broadcasting Model: Radio and the Promotion of Portuguese Colonialism

Nelson Ribeiro

Journal of Radio & Audio Media, volume 29, issue 1 (2022), pp. 10-25

"The article demonstrates how Portugal lacked a true policy of imperial broadcasting which led it to become dependent on colonial stations for the dissemination of colonialism. The broadcasters established in the Portuguese Empire dedicated significant airtime to the dissemination of Portugal’s co ... more

Dutch Speaking to Dutch. Broadcasts from the Netherlands to Indonesia During the Decolonization War (1945–1949)

Vincent Kuitenbrouwer

Journal of Radio & Audio Media, volume 29, issue 1 (2022), pp. 42-60

"Dutch international radio broadcaster Radio Nederland Wereldomroep (RNW) was founded in 1947, during the decolonization war in Indonesia. This paper explores the nature of the broadcasts to Indonesia in the early years of RNW. It is argued that these broadcasts must be seen in the context of the Du ... more

Media Studies: Critical African and Decolonial Approaches
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Sarah Chiumbu, Mehita Iqani (eds.)

Cape Town: Oxford University Press Southern Africa (2020), xii, 340 pp.

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Mission und Kommunikation: Verflechtungsgeschichtliche Perspektiven auf Missionsgeschichte im kolonialen Zeitalter

Richard Hölzl

Interkulturelle Theologie: Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft, volume 45, issue 2-3 (2019), pp. 166-187

"In diesem Beitrag argumentiere ich, dass für eine Verflechtungsgeschichte von Mission seit dem 19. Jahrhundert eine medien- und kommunikationstheoretische Dimension unerlässlich ist: Mission war nicht nur eine historische Agentur, um Akteur*innen in Bewegungen zu setzen, als Reisende und Migriere ... more

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Private Print Media, the State and Politics in Colonial and Post-Colonial Zimbabwe

Sylvester Dombo

Cham: Palgrave Macmillan (2018), xvii, 277 pp.

"This book examines the role played by two popular private newspapers in the struggle for democracy in Zimbabwe, one case from colonial Rhodesia and the other from the post-colonial era. It argues that, operating under oppressive political regimes and in the dearth of credible opposition political p ... more

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Les médias en Afrique depuis les indépendances: Bilan, enjeux et perspectives

Ndiaga Loum, Ibrahima Sarr (dir.)

Paris: L'Harmattan (2018), 268 pp.

Global Photographies: Memory – History – Archives

Sissy Helff, Stefanie Michels (eds.)

Bielefeld: transcript (2018), 208 pp.

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When the Subaltern Speaks: Re-Examining Indigenous-Language Media as Alternative Public Sphere During Colonial South Africa

Gilbert Motsaathebe

Journal of African Media Studies, volume 10, issue 2 (2018), pp. 169-183

"This article attempts to examine the efficacy of indigenous-language newspapers published in South Africa during the colonial era. In doing so, the article is particularly interested to see how the success achieved by those publications could be replicated to boost post-apartheid indigenous-languag ... more

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Political Communication and Mobilisation: The Hindi Media in India

Taberez Ahmed Neyazi

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2017), xv, 234 pp.

"This book provides a fresh perspective on the importance of the Hindi media in India's political, social and economic transformation with evidence from the countryside and the cities. Accessed by more than forty percent of the public, it continues to play an important role in building political awa ... more

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The Colonial Documentary Film in South and South-East Asia

Ian Aitken, Camille Deprez (eds.)

Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (2017), x, 246 pp.

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Fantômas sous les tropiques: Aller au cinéma en Afrique coloniale

Odile Goerg

Paris: Eds. Vendémiaire (2015), 285 pp.

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In Service of Two Masters: A Political History of Radio in Pre-Independence Botswana

James Zaffiro

Critical Arts: South-North Cultural and Media Studies, volume 28, issue 6 (2014), pp. 958-976

"This study identifies and critically analyses the major imperial (global and regional) political and economic factors and decisions that influenced and shaped the development of pre-independence radio broadcasting in the Bechuanaland Protectorate. With little or no consideration of the needs of the ... more

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Meanings of Audiences: Comparative Discourses

Richard Butsch, Sonia Livingstone (eds.)

London; New York: Routledge (2014), xi, 206 pp.

"With essays on audiences in ancient Greece, early modern Germany, Soviet and post-Soviet Russia, Zimbabwe, contemporary Egypt, Bengali India, China, Taiwan, and immigrant diaspora in Belgium, each chapter examines the ways in which audiences are embedded in discourses of power, representation, and ... more

A imprensa e o império colonial em São Tomé e Príncipe (1857-1974)

Isadora Fonseca de Ataide

Comunicação Pública, volume 9, issue 16 (2014), 23 pp.

"Analisar a trajectória e o desempenho da imprensa em São Tomé e Príncipe ao longo docolonialismo é o objectivo deste artigo. Observam-se os papéis desempenhados pelo jornalismo no contexto sociopolítico do arquipélago no período colonial, entre 1857 e 1974. Para se compreender o percurso d ... more

Promoting National Unity: The Role of Radio Broadcasting in the Process of Decolonisation in Namibia and Zambia

Robert Heinze

Doctoral Thesis Universität Konstanz (2012), iv, 313 pp.

"This thesis operates from the observation that "Decolonising the Mind", i.e. a cultural decolonisation process, was needed after the independence of African countries to support and flesh out political decolonisation. Culture, as shown, played a major role in the mobilisation of support for nationa ... list movements, but after independence nationalist culture was just one among many. In both cases presented here, the most pressing issue after political independence was how to deal with the different identities that had previously existed and were onyl partially cushioned by political and cultural nationalism. Now that the political kingdom had been attained, the different language, cultural and political groups started to ask questions about their place in this kingdom. Although many politicians shared the idea that "once you have a national identity, the question of culture becomes something which flows automatically", it soon turned out to be misguided. Media and education were seen to be the major tools in "decolonising the mind". However, a close analysis of the electronic media in the two cases presented here shows that the policies for promoting national unity in programmes were largely ineffective. Instead, radio programmes, both before and after independence, provided a space to negotiate issues of national identity. This space was sometimes more, sometimes less restricted, but listeners used it as much as they could. Colonial media had, for all their focus on political control and censorship, accompanied and mediated social change. As described, this happened specifically in cultural programmes, where broadcasters were much freer in their work. However, Northern Rhodesian media were supposed to work as a catalyst to further the process of modernisation, and to help its listeners come to terms with the transition from being 'traditional' to becoming 'modern' Africans. In the Apartheid broadcasting system, culture was used consciously to construct a specific 'ethnic' identity, emphasising cultural traditions of the different language groups. But while the intentions were different, both broadcasting institutions were at the centre of negotiating ideas of tradition and modernity. Both were also established because there was a need to legitimate the respective political system. Be it the Central African Federation or a 'democratic' "South West Africa/ Namibia", the political models promoted by the authorities could not just be imposed on the people. The radios were established to give reality to these constructs, to make listeners identify with a social, political and cultural space that had been defined by colonial authorities. As shown, colonial ideologies not only surfaced in obvious propaganda programmes but also significantly determined the technical and managerial setup of the stations. While radio infrastructure was formed and reformed to structure that space – by linking three territories with different political and social power structures or, following Apartheid ideology, by assigning each language group their own space according to the homeland system – culturally as well as geographically. As shown, infrastructure mirrored the proposed political models, not just in its technical aspects (i.e., the stations' footprints, transmitting posts and frequencies), but also in management structure. As the Federal Broadcasting Services were subdivided in European and African Services, respectively catering for the whole White or Black population of all three territories, the South West African Broadcasting Corporation separated first Black and White, then subdivided the three Departments in the several language Services, each broadcasting to the designated "homeland". This infrastructure not only formed the whole process of programme production and reception but was also part of it as it imparted ideological considerations. The first order of business for independent countries was therfore to restructure the radio according to the needs of the new nations." (Conclusion, page 274-275) more

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