"Since World War II, several terms have been used to describe the deliberate, systematic, and creative use of communication assets - technologies, processes and imagination - to respond to dehumanizing conditions and to promote positive human development. They include project support communication, ... development support communication, communication and national development, communication and development, strategic communication, health communication, participatory communication, and, more recently, communication for development (C4D). Each of these terms is associated with shifts in focus, emphasis, and processes. At its core, each term also represents the outcome of dialogue among stakeholders about what is meant by "development." (Page 397) more

"In geographically oriented chapters on sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, the Caribbean and North America (Afro-America), four experts from U.S. universities with numerous publications present the mass media published and influenced by Africans and their descendants in Africa and America. The chapte ... rs are organized according to a uniform scheme: General principles, historical development in the individual states of the region (up to about 1993), personnel and regional characteristics, so that clarity and quick comparisons within the book are assured. Anyone expecting a reference work on the individual media based on the title of the book will be disappointed, because the authors expressly do not want to compile a bibliographical or factual reference work - although one would have liked clearer bibliographical lists and some data compilations - but they want to write an introduction to the African-influenced mass media. It is in the nature of the matter that this was only possible in broad outlines and without numerous details in view of the historical and current diversity, but it makes the book interesting as a first introduction to the subject and at the same time as the first self-portrayal on this scale and with this self-image." (Review by Wilbert Ubbens, Informationsmittel für Bibliotheken (IFB) 5:1-2 (1997) more