"This volume focuses on indigenous knowledge in analyzing the traditions and communication processes within various communities of Northeast India. It deals with the historical and theoretical trajectory of communication for social change as a discipline, bringing together a series of interesting ca ... se studies from the sphere of meaningful learning where individuals and communities engage in a cooperative and dialogic environment to promote change at multiple levels. The case studies cover a range of media - radio, video, ‘forum theatre’ - and considers both practitioners and audiences." (Publisher description) more

"Based on an in-depth case study of “Khabar Lahariya” – a community newspaper located in Central India, this research paper analyses its decade-and-a-half journey and examines the metamorphosis it has undergone over the years. The paper borrows from Tanja Bosch’s (2010) synthesis of Gilles D ... eleuze and Felix Guattari’s notion of “rhizomes” to analyze community media, and also from Chris Atton’s (2002) “Model of Alternative and Radical Media,” which he developed through an amalgamation of existing definitions and theoretical sketches on community media. Drawing on the characteristics of “heterogeneity,” “multiplicity” and “asignifying rupture” of rhizomes, the paper explains how Khabar Lahariya grew from a study tool for the neo-literate women of an NGO’s literacy intervention to an independent “media agency” having linkages with diverse media outlets. Atton’s model allows us to comprehend the “intersections” and “overlapping” of dimensions in Khabar Lahariya’s content, form, production, distribution channels, social relations, roles and responsibilities that generate “hybridity” in its products and processes. The authors conclude by flagging some of the consequences of this rhizomatic growth and multi-dimensionality of structure and processes of Khabar Lahariya that may signify a debatable compromise of a few of the non-negotiable principles that characterize community media." (Abstract) more