Handbook of Black Studies PDF

Sage Reference Handbook of Black Studies For the most optimal reading experience we recommend using our website. A free-to-view version of this content is available by clicking on this link, which includes an easy-to-navigate-and-sea...

Sage Reference Handbook of Black Studies For the most optimal reading experience we recommend using our website. A free-to-view version of this content is available by clicking on this link, which includes an easy-to-navigate-and-search-entry, and may also include videos, embedded datasets, downloadable datasets, interactive questions, audio content, and downloadable tables and resources. Author: Charles Okigbo Pub. Date: 2010 Product: Sage Reference DOI: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412982696 Keywords: Africa, African diaspora, diaspora, mass media, media, broadcasting, Nigeria Disciplines: Race & Ethnicity, Race, Ethnicity & Migration, Black Studies, Sociology Access Date: July 8, 2024 Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc. City: Thousand Oaks Online ISBN: 9781412982696 © 2010 SAGE Publications, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Sage Sage Reference © 2006 by Sage Publications, Inc. African Communication Patterns and the Black Stud- ies Inheritance CharlesOkigbo Africa is an enigma, a puzzle, and an intriguing case study in bewildering i ironies. It is the second largest continent, next to Asia in size and with an area of 11.7 million square miles, which makes it three times larger than Europe, its former colonial master; and yet its 53 countries account for only a miniscule share of global economic output. Although, today, African countries are some of the poorest in the world, with many of them having annual per capita incomes of less than $300.00, some of these countries have extensive natural re- sources that should make them the richest countries in the world. So in one sense, African countries are not poor; they account for about half the world's production of bauxite, chrome, and diamonds; more than half its cocoa and platinum; and about three quarters of its cobalt. Africa now supplies more than 16% of U.S.-import- ed crude oil, a proportion that will increase to about 25% in the next decade (Harmon, 2003). But in another sense, African countries are very poor. One of the key influences on the reinterpretation of the concept of development in Africa has been the work of African American and African scholars using an Africa-centered perspective on data. I believe in this Hand- book it is important to record the significance of such revolutionary ways of thinking among newer scholars. Thus, I will outline a historical dimension to the question of communication in Africa as a backdrop to any analysis of the continent's communication issues. Although many African countries are now experiencing a new wave of democracy and media pluralism, early African states were steeped in democratic practices. They had a long history of political development and traditional communication infrastructure. Africa had well-established powerful kingdoms, among which were the ancient kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, Kanem-Bornu, and Songhai from the 1st to the 15th centuries. Africa also had an extensive infrastructure for intercommunity communications and the famous trans-Saharan trade. Diplomacy and international relations were common in African states that engaged in external relations with each other and European groups (Brown, 1969). Although Africa today appears to lag behind in developed countries, the continent provided the cradle for hu- man civilization, and it is the origin of humankind. The higher primates inhabited the Nile valley 40 million years ago, and various forms of “early man” have been discovered in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Niger, Chad, Handbook of Black Studies Page 2 of 25 Sage Sage Reference © 2006 by Sage Publications, Inc. and South Africa. One of these forms, Homo erectus, is believed to be the first to use fire, which marked the first stage in iron technology. Africa provided, in Egypt and Nubia, sites of early science, medicine, and archi- tecture. Egypt's position as one of the preeminent powers of the ancient world is not debatable. According to July (1992), “For more than two thousand years Egypt held her place as a major seat of ancient civilization in the West” (p. 24). In spite of Africa's historic achievements, it was threatened by European invasion and conquest, leading to enslavement and colonization. By the end of the 19th century, almost the whole of Africa had come under effective European control, which wrecked the continent's socioeconomic environment and left deleterious footprints on almost every aspect of African life and culture. Although independence came with the end of World War II, starting with Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, and Ghana, the evil influence of colonialism has proved indelible. All African countries (except for Ethiopia and Liberia) were subjected to rule by one or the other of the European colonial powers—Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. The last African country to gain political independence was South Africa, where minority Whites controlled the destiny of the majority native Africans. Africa never ceases to amaze. There is always something fascinating to behold in Africa, even when the sit- uation is difficult to decipher. There is always something new out of Africa. The continent is as vast as it is diverse, as traditional as it is modern, and as heterogeneous as it is homogeneous. The African character is unmistakable, and yet the culture is so diverse it accommodates a vast array of cultures, religions, and ethnic groups. The colonial encounter with Europe has left pockets of European languages as the lingua franca in individual African countries. Because the national boundaries were arbitrarily drawn by the European powers at the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885, where they decided what European power controlled what part of Africa, there is neither rhyme nor reason in the distribution of European languages in Africa. More than a half century after independence, commerce and government businesses are still largely conducted in the languages of the colonialists, and there are not many indigenous African languages in use as official languages. This lack of indigenous African languages as lingua franca is a serious handicap to national development and the nurtur- ing of indigenous thought, because Africans are forced to think and express themselves in foreign languages that symbolized oppression and loss of self-prestige. Nkrumahs vision of a United States of Africa died with him, and neither the new African Union nor the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) has the galvanizing power to pull the disparate African countries to form a common polity, under a pan-Africanist phi- losophy. Handbook of Black Studies Page 3 of 25 Sage Sage Reference © 2006 by Sage Publications, Inc. The contact with Europe, even where it was only indirect and short-lived, has significantly influenced African communication and education. Not only have European languages been the dominant medium of expression for business and official government transactions, but they are also the main languages of journalism and communication. Because languages and media are extensions of ourselves as communicative symbols and messages, they have power far beyond their content (McLuhan, 1964). The colonial experience was not uniform all across the continent. Significant variations exist in the different African countries, based on their differing colonial experiences. The interaction between different patterns of colonialism and local situations has resulted in some marked differences in contemporary culture and com- munication in Africa. The British practiced indirect rule, whereas the French adopted an assimilation policy. These colonial administrative practices have left lasting affects on mass media operations and policies in Africa. In a country like Cameroon, which has two official European languages (English and French), the me- dia in respective regions reflect the characteristics of the dominant language of the colonizer. African commu- nication today is as nebulous as the continent. African people, being diverse, have widely varying communication repertoires. Human communication is an extension and manifestation of human culture. African communication is as perplexing as the continent is enigmatic. In no other continent is traditional communication so much a part of contemporary mass and or- ganizational communication, and the admixture of old and modern so evident in as many aspects of human communication as in Africa. The problems of communication in Africa today mirror the continent's challenges in other theaters of development. To understand Africa is to engage in communication with the soul of the continent, which Mazrui (1986) described as captivated by a triple heritage of the native, the Judeo-Christian, and the Islamic traditions. All over Africa, even in the communication sphere, the processes of both synthesis and dissonance continue as Africans try to make sense of their social reality by adapting new ways to tradi- tional means. The objective in this article is to provide a descriptive analysis of the communication imperative in African development. The analysis uses the tripartite model of traditional, modern, and transitional communication to argue for a holistic approach in engaging African communication as a tool for positive social change. Suc- cessful development programming requires strategic use of these three legs of African communication. The Three Legs of African Communication If human civilization originated in Africa, it follows that human communication should have its roots in Africa, Handbook of Black Studies Page 4 of 25 Sage Sage Reference © 2006 by Sage Publications, Inc. too, for to be human is to communicate. Centuries before the Egyptians perfected writing and pictorial com- munication in cuneiform and hieroglyphics, ancient African communities had created and shared folklore, ed- ucated their children through family communication, and transmitted their social heritage from one genera- tion to another. Today, in spite of the pernicious consequences of colonialism and the incessant onslaught of Western media and values, many aspects of traditional African communication have survived, especially in the rural areas where about 70% of the population resides. African communication represents some of the most enduring forms of indigenous communication among native peoples. Indigenous African culture, which is palpable and an unmistakable reality in every part of Africa, is expressed through various traditional com- munication forms. Traditional African Communication The average African, whether he or she is in the urban or rural areas, devotes a considerable amount of time to indigenous or traditional communication that involves using native media or metaphors to transmit or re- ceive useful intelligence. The plethora of traditional communication frameworks and apparatuses in Africa is what Ugboajah (1985) called “oramedia” and described as “folk media (which) are grounded on indigenous culture, produced and consumed by members of a group.” He adds further that “they are visible cultural fea- tures [which are] often strictly conventional, [and] by which social relationships and a world view are main- tained and defined” (p. 166). Oramedia are an inseparable part of the people's culture and can be interper- sonal, group media, or both. Frank Ugboajah died prematurely before he could fully develop his oramedia paradigm. It is apposite to provide this long quote of how he tried to characterize oramedia, which he argued held much promise for use in strategic social change communication in Africa. In delineating the characteris- tics of oramedia, Ugboajah (1985) had this to say: They have been described as being simple in form and generally available to all at no material cost. They are in the public domain and anonymous in origin. There might be little differentiation between their producers and their consumers. But they communicate directly through any of the senses via folkways. Oramedia are made up of dialogue and verbal exchange, a feature that is provided by the almost constant presence of one or more surrounding listeners. They may be defined as functional and utilitarian. Their most important purpose is to provide teaching and initiation, with the object of imparting traditional aesthetic, historical, technical, social, ethical and religious values. They provide Handbook of Black Studies Page 5 of 25 Sage Sage Reference © 2006 by Sage Publications, Inc. a legal code of sorts which rests on stories and proverbs generated through the spoken word. They also play other roles in the village society such as mobilizing people's awareness of their own history, magnifying past events and evoking deeds of illustrious ancestors. Thus they tend to unite a people and give them cohesion by way of ideas and emotions. (p. 167) A hasty interpretation may lead one to think that oramedia must be only interpersonal, dialogic exchanges for cultural education or propaganda. This is only a partial characterization. Oramedia are more than these and should include exhor-tatory proverbs, dirges, praise songs, and more. They consist of the full range of communication apparatus and processes associated with the informal flow of information and influence be- low the formal structures of government and business organizations in African societies. As Ugboajah (1985) explained, in a structural sense, “[oramedia] are the traditional media or folk media represented by a diffusion network of lower chiefs, age groups, the market place, market women's organizations, traditional priests, stall heads, village teachers and the indomitable village crier” (p. 167). This list is not exhaustive. It is only sugges- tive of the wide range of African traditional communication scenarios that are part of oramedia. Oreh (1978) did not use the term oramedia but provided many illustrations of traditional communication, among which are various types of African talking drums, the gong, palm fronds, and horns. He included such traditional speech forms as proverbs, folktales, and riddles as further examples of traditional communi- cation. Among the Efik in Nigeria, traditional media forms include wooden drums, woodblock, rattles, gourd horn, mambo rind, and yellow palm frond, as well as Ekpo masquerade and cultural festivals (Wilson, 1987). In advertising, Ogbodoh (1990) found that African traditional forms such as town crying, hawkers' songs, drums, displays of textile materials, and producers' signatures serve sales promotion and marketing purpos- es. African traditional communication is varied in form. Traditional African communication attracts mostly positive comments from scholars, many of whom have an idyllic view of village life in Africa. Ugboajah (1985) described oramedia as effective tools for development programs. In his view, they do not favor the elites at the expense of poor groups and classes; they promote cooperation and collaboration and are not supportive of individual thinking. In a similar vein, Moemeka (1998) sees communication in traditional African societies as illustrative of communalism—“the principle or system of social order in which among other things, the supremacy of the community is culturally and socially en- trenched” (p. 124). He notes that the idyllic conditions in rural communities contrast sharply with the self-inter- est and uncommunalistic attitudes of urban dwellers. Without doubt, life in rural Africa is more humane than is the case in the cities. However, this does not necessarily make traditional communication the method par Handbook of Black Studies Page 6 of 25 Sage Sage Reference © 2006 by Sage Publications, Inc. excellence for social harmony. Properly understood, communication is a tool, which can be good or bad. African traditional communication is not unequivocally and unilaterally good or bad. It depends on the use we make of it. It is also changing, as modernization drives greater acceptance and use of new communication technology. As Oreh (1978) ob- served, Some traditional modes of communication are today still used in their own right and independently. Others have found their place in the (modern) mass media of communication. Some others no longer serve any function in the present state of communication. (pp. 110–111) All across the continent, oramedia and the modern mass media are engaged in a continuing negotiation for relevance and accommodation. As the general African society comes in closer contact with external forces and influences, some aspects of traditional African communication recede in importance through a process of natural selection and survival of the most adaptable. Nevertheless, oramedia are not about to disappear, nor are they completely irrelevant, although the modern mass media are becoming ever more pervasive in contemporary African communities. The Modern Mass Media in Africa The modern mass media of newspapers, movies, radio, television, magazines, and the Internet are recent introductions by Europeans in Africa. The inauguration of the earliest modern media came on the heels of de- velopments in government administration, Western religion, and commerce. The arbitrary fragmentation that resulted from the Berlin Conference of 1884, the influence of colonial administrative policies, and low liter- acy levels have significantly affected the character of African communication. More than five decades after independence, the modern mass media have yet to overcome these handicaps and thus have not developed extensively. Worthy of note is the failure of the colonialists to allow for popular participation of Africans in the new media of communication. This set a precedent for the modern mass media to be seen more as either agents of the government or the opposition. The modern mass media in Africa have a character that reflects their historical antecedents as European or nationalist platforms. Their low levels of sophistication and devel- opment today do not accord with their dated origin. Ironically, the countries that had the earliest media are now lagging further behind because of economic and political crises that have adversely affected education, Handbook of Black Studies Page 7 of 25 Sage Sage Reference © 2006 by Sage Publications, Inc. industries, and the media. Sierra Leone was a leader in the establishment of newspapers and institutions for higher education, following its founding in 1787. The Sierra Leone Gazette, which was the first newspaper in West Africa, was founded in 1801 by officers of the Sierra Leone Company, who were the civil administrators of the settlement before it became a British colony in 1808. Fourah Bay College was the first institution of higher education in the re- gion. The experiment in Sierra Leone led to the establishment of other newspapers along the West African coast, including Africa's Luminary in Liberia (1836), the Gold Coast Gazette in 1822, the Accra Herald in the Gold Coast (1857), and Iwe Irohin in Nigeria (1859). The second half of the 18th century witnessed the es- tablishment of many newspapers in different African countries. Among the most notable ones was the South African Indaba (News) newspaper. The educated Africans who managed the newspapers were interested in the opinion-formation functions of the press, which they saw as a tool for creating political awareness. This often placed them in opposition to the colonial governments. As Omu (1978) described this, “The press as- sumed the role of the opposition and sought to rival the government, encouraging political awareness and involvement by providing a means of criticism of the authorities and spreading disaffection with official plans and policies” (p. 11). African newspapers, from inception, were published for only a small segment of the population who could read. Even the vernacular press catered to the needs of people who were literate in the native languages. There has been no African equivalent of the boon associated with the era of the penny press in the United States because of the low level of literacy among Africans and African editors' penchant for highbrow journal- ism. This elitist nature of African newspaper journalism has persisted to the present and has made it difficult for contemporary African newspapers to adopt populist appeals. African journalists are not eager to embrace the evolving phenomenon of civic journalism—that innovative involvement of the audience in deciding media content and the emphasis on certain kinds of news treatment. The reticence about populist journalism did not stop African journalists of the nationalist era from using their newspapers as tools for promoting political independence. Their journalistic style was aimed at mobilization and education. As Okonkwor (1978) argued on the contributions of the Nigerian press to the nationalist struggle, “The emergence of political parties in Nigeria owed much to the mobilization and integration fostered by the newspapers within this period” (p. 176). Similar situations obtained in Ghana, Kenya, and other African countries. The success in national mobiliza- tion for independence leads many to expect that today's journalists in Africa should be in the vanguard for liberating their countries from the pernicious forces of political corruption, ethnic strife, and exploitation by the ruling oligarchs. Radio is more suited to this task of popular mobilization because it can reach every corner of Handbook of Black Studies Page 8 of 25 Sage Sage Reference © 2006 by Sage Publications, Inc. the state. But then again, African radio has not overcome its historical constraints and handicaps. Radio broadcasting came to Africa in the early years of the 20th century, in every case, at the instance of the colonial regimes. Just as there was no common political policy among the European colonizers, there was no common approach to their introduction of radio broadcasting in Africa. As early as 1910, some White settlers in South Africa were experimenting with amateur radio operations for sending and receiving signals. True broadcasting started in 1924 following the issuance of broadcasting licenses to local authorities by the gov- ernment. In 1927, financial problems led the authorities to pass on their licenses to a private entrepreneur, Mr. I. W. Schlesinger, who established the African Broadcasting Corporation for the purposes of profitably man- aging the radio spectrum in South Africa. The operations were still not profitable, and the ABC was bought out in 1936 by state-funded South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), which was designed to operate the BBC model (Hayman & Tomaselli, 1989). The early use of radio in Africa was largely as a medium for colonial propaganda and entertainment. Starting from 1932, the British Broadcasting Corporation provided its empire service for British colonies. The French had its rediffusion service for Francophone African countries, as part of the la mission civilisatrice, or “the civ- ilizing mission” of France. As for the Portuguese, their style was to permit the development of largely private “radio clubs” in Angola, Mozambique, and the Cape Verde Islands, although these were almost all operat- ed by Portuguese colonists. Locked in the heart of Africa, the Belgians were relatively laissez-faire in their approach to broadcasting in the Belgian Congo. The early programs reflected the views of the colonial ad- ministrations and were largely in the colonial languages. Summing up the colonial experience of broadcasting in Africa, Browne (1996) concluded that “virtually all of the stations in colonial Africa, whatever the identity of colonizing power, carried substantial amounts of programming in the languages of the colonizers” (p. 20). These laid the foundation for the use of radio to benefit governments through provision of speedy and eco- nomic means of communication between the state and the people. The original colonial imprint has remained with contemporary broadcast operations in independent African countries, especially among Francophones (Nyamnjoh, 1988). Even though radio was (and still remains) a popular medium among African rural and ur- ban dwellers, it has not served a powerful educational or mobilization purpose. The era of new private radio stations, starting from the 1980s, has not brought about much change. The private operators are often fronts for governments, and many radio programs are often frivolous and foreign music oriented. Radio's entertain- ment value has overshadowed its potential as a tool for public enlightenment and mass education. As for television, it has been an intriguing medium from inception. Handbook of Black Studies Page 9 of 25 Sage Sage Reference © 2006 by Sage Publications, Inc. Television broadcasting first came to Morocco in 1954; 2 years later, Algeria followed suit. In 1959, television was established in western Nigeria, on the eve of national independence, which came in 1960. Between 1962 and 1965, television was introduced to Kenya, Uganda, the Congo (Brazzaville), the Sudan, Zambia, Upper Volta, Gabon, Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, and Ghana. The link between the establishment of television stations and the granting of political independence is unmistakable, leading Berwanger (1987) to argue that television stations were some of the most visible farewell gifts from the departing colonial administrators. The farewell gifts have not kept well largely because there was very little preparation of indigenous personnel who could infuse the medium with meaningful local values and content. Thus, 40 years later, much of the content on African television is patterned after Euro-American standards of broadcasting, with only miniscule incorpo- ration of African traditional communication motifs. Many African television managers have unquestioningly retained the 30-minute news format, as well as the news and feature production techniques of Euro-Amer- ican standards. Many of the commercials on African television are produced in Europe or America, by for- eign affiliates of African advertising agencies. African radio and television operators are too eager to imitate Euro-American methods but have not benefited from some of the best practices of Euro-American journal- ism—such as the British philosophy of public broadcasting and American dexterity in public journalism. The history of the mass media in Africa is similar to the development of the press in the United States, except for two major differences. American journalism is primarily a business, and American higher education has been an important catalyst in the development of American journalism. Historically, American media are pri- marily business operations that survive on their profits, unlike the situation in Africa, where the modern media were (and still remain) political organs of nationalist journalists or public charges subsidized by the colonial (and later independent African) governments. The close relationship between education and the media favors the United States, but not Africa. American higher education developed vigorously through both private and government initiatives in the establishment of universities and community colleges. The early settlers in the United States knew the value of higher education, and Congress saw the need to establish land grant col- leges and universities to make higher education practical and available to many. In Africa, the colonial governments and their successors deliberately kept higher education out of reach to the common people and the private sector. But in America, higher education was given a fillip by private involve- ment and the establishment of community-based colleges. One of the unintended benefits is the creation of a critical mass of literate citizens who became avid media users. This laid the foundation for an enlightened class, active in public affairs discussions, hungry for diverse media content, and inquisitive about govern- ment conduct. These are essential qualities that leverage political democracy. Whereas nearly every nook Handbook of Black Studies Page 10 of 25 Sage Sage Reference © 2006 by Sage Publications, Inc. and corner of the United States is serviced by the modern mass media, the situation in Africa is different. African countries need an education bill of rights that will guarantee universal secondary education to produce enlightened citizens who can contribute to national development thinking and planning. The rural areas, al- though rich in traditional wisdom, are ill served by the modern mass media, which are efficient (albeit limited) conveyors of intelligence. The modern mass media in Africa are largely urban phenomena, whose influence is not always directly felt in the rural areas where the majority of the ordinary people live. Although newspapers, magazines, radio, and television touch rural dwellers, the more dominant mode of information and influence is interpersonal, with heavy reliance on opinion leaders and word-of-mouth methods. The modern mass media in Africa present a scenario for a two-step flow of information and influence from the urban-based media and opinion leaders to the rural dwellers, who are generally poorer and less educated. Radio is widely used in most villages and rural areas, although it is mostly for entertainment. With increasing electrification of many rural communities, there will be an increase in the penetration of television. The modern mass media in Africa are successors of the flutes, drums, and other oramedia forms, which in traditional African societies communicated unequivocally and without fear or favor. Are the modern media in Africa muffled or are they thunderous drums? William Hachten (1971) called African newspapers, radio, television, and magazines “muffled drums,” which he characterized as too few and inad- equate for the great tasks expected of them, often harassed and controlled by self-serving interests and too weak technologically, economically, or politically to carry very far. Although the media landscape in Africa has changed dramatically since Hachten's characterization, the new media in Africa have not consistently been thunderous, according to Ziegler and Asante (1992). In their book on the modern media in Africa, appropri- ately titled Thunder and Silence, Ziegler and Asante (1992) rightly noted that “in the last few decades, there has been a tremendous growth of African media. This has meant new orientation to society, business, as well as domestic and international relationships” (p. v). They admit that the voice of the media in Africa “is often loud and clear (but) at other times, too many times, it is a weak and ineffectual voice” (p. 130). In the last few decades, the new global information infrastructures have been expanding in African countries, especially where the telecommunication industry has been privatized. Mobile phones now make it possible to extend telecommunication services to even remote areas. Cyber cafés and business communication centers in the urban areas provide easy (even if expensive) access to world-class communication without borders. Many African print and electronic media institutions now have operational Web sites that can be accessed Handbook of Black Studies Page 11 of 25 Sage Sage Reference © 2006 by Sage Publications, Inc. from any part of the world. Ironically, many of these sites are more accessible outside Africa. In spite of vari- ous efforts to bridge the gap inherent in the digital divide, many African countries are still at the bottom rungs in the hierarchy of information endowments. A recent analysis of global information/communication assets, capital, and consumption, which was sponsored by UNESCO and Canadian development agencies (Sciadas, 2003) found that Canada, the United States, and Western European countries have the highest levels of infor- mation/communication assets. The other well-endowed countries are Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. The least endowed category is dominated by African countries, especial- ly Chad, Ethiopia, the Central African Republic, Eritrea, and Malawi. Although mobile phones and the Internet are becoming more common in Africa today, the gap between the information-rich and information-poor coun- tries is not closing fast enough. African countries and their mass media can benefit immensely from more developed information and communication assets. More developed information infrastructures in Africa will positively affect the operations of the modern mass media, as is the case in developed countries where broadcasting stations, newspapers, and magazines con- tinually update the news stories on their Web sites, and provide links to archived materials, news sources, and relevant institutions or agencies. Although these services are yet to be fully developed by many African media institutions, there is no doubt they will come on stream in the future, as the forces of globalization predispose even African media to adopt desirable practices from developed countries. Just as some African advertising agencies seek collaborative partnership arrangements with Western agencies, some African media institu- tions are beginning to seek similar arrangements with Western media organizations. Such arrangements can be mutually beneficial and vary from one news organization to another, depending on their circumstances. The modern mass media in Africa represent a wide range of perspectives and operational philosophies. The terrain is turbulent and treacherous, and the rewards for communication professions—especially journal- ism—are not encouraging. Although these modern media are pervasive, they cannot completely displace ora- media forms. The modern mass media will be more effective if they seek to incorporate elements of African traditional communication. Thankfully, there are increasing cases of admixtures of traditional and modern me- dia to achieve an interesting hybrid—transitional communication. Transitional Communication An understanding of contemporary African communication requires a transitional model. A transitional media Handbook of Black Studies Page 12 of 25 Sage Sage Reference © 2006 by Sage Publications, Inc. approach recognizes the inherently dynamic nature of human communication, which is always in a state of flux, even when media personnel, processes, and products appear immutable. Human societies are in transi- tion as they evolve new modes and ideas. The transition in African communication is all too obvious. Where we once had only talking drums, we now have amplified talking drums. Where we used to have only face-to- face village meetings under the Baobab tree, we now have virtual chat rooms with compatriots who participate from all over the world to discuss issues of concern to their native communities. Transitional communication is real; it is growing fast, has many contexts, and reflects a complex system that embraces the traditional and the modern. As an approach to understanding the interface between two modes, it can take different forms or paths. This approach “maintains that media transition in various societies may take different paths in different political, cultural, and socio-economic contexts, and therefore may lead to dif- ferent and often complex media systems” (Huang, 2003, p. 456). Specifically, the approach calls for under- standing communication systems from an ecological perspective rather than judging them with procrustean tools and forced templates. In this regard, any close scrutiny of the African media landscape will show that it is changing drastically in significant ways, among which is the unclear demarcation between oramedia and the modern mass media. This admixture of traditional and modern communication in Africa presents one form of transitional commu- nication. The second form of transitional communication is the hybridization of the common mass media and the new information technology, which many African groups in the Diaspora are using to create a new sense of African community experience. Whereas precolonial Africa employed only traditional communication, contemporary African societies have to contend with the inevitable admixture of oramedia and modern foreign communication methods. Although still largely undeveloped, this points the way to creative adaptation of foreign media to suit the unique African cultural terrain. For instance, in parts of Africa where the traditional town crier relied on only his legs for trans- portation and his voice for bellowing announcements, the transitional messenger today rides a bicycle or moped and may use a mechanical public address system to “broadcast” to his audience. A further adapta- tion may include recording the message on tape for easy repetition to increase both frequency and reach. In another sense, the use of electronic music players and loudspeakers at funerals combines elements of tradi- tional funeral rites and modern message modulation, thereby yielding synergistic results. We need to create more opportunities to integrate new communication technology and traditional African communication. The peculiar ingenuity of African societies could have led to better and more fruitful adaptation of the modern Handbook of Black Studies Page 13 of 25 Sage Sage Reference © 2006 by Sage Publications, Inc. media to suit African traditional conditions if colonial administrators and later their African successors had not exercised towering controls of all aspects of the modern media. Such controls have inhibited the more expres- sive use of radio, television, and the print media as popular organs for transmitting traditional popular culture. African communication will not realize its full potential if the people are limited to the reproduction of staid Western modes and methods. The traditional media of marketplaces, village meetings, and age grade asso- ciations will have to be elevated to higher levels of communicative relevance by their careful and strategic integration with modern mass media forms of broadcast and print communication to achieve effective transi- tional communication. In many parts of Africa today, there are interesting adaptations of African cultural communication forms, such as traditional theater and drama, into mainstream mass media programming for entertainment, public enlight- enment, or both. These illustrate the admixture of oramedia and modern mass media. Many urban African communication producers and consumers appear too eager to adopt foreign (usually American) communi- cation formats and styles, to the detriment of African indigenous forms. This situation illustrates Tunstall's (1977) argument about the American domination of mass communication in the world. Even though the Unit- ed States was not active in the colonization of Africa, its media (especially television and films) have been a dominating presence in many African countries, at the expense of indigenous programming and creativity. There is great merit in integrating oramedia and modern communication in Africa, in measured and strategic ways. African development cannot be achieved through wholesale adoption of foreign communication modes because human communication is an extension of ourselves. The second sense of transitional communication refers to the convergence of the modern mass media with the new information technologies to yield new forms of communicative experiences for African communities in the Diaspora. This is evident in the growing incidence of African newspapers on the Internet, various elec- tronic discussion groups or electronic town hall meetings on African affairs, and other forms of Internet com- munication that make it possible for Africans in the Diaspora to keep abreast of developments in their home countries. This is a burgeoning area of new developments that include Web sites and innumerable electronic discussion groups, which are coordinated by interest groups, including Africa-based newspapers and ethnic associations in the Diaspora. Among the electronic media is the African Broadcasting Network/Time Warner Cable television service, which provides programs (in Minnesota) on African culture, music, ways of life, and history. In the third quarter of 2003, the African Independent Television (AIT) satellite telecast from Nigeria to the United States and the rest of the world was launched. Minaj International Broadcasting already provides African television programs to subscribers in the United Kingdom and has now started the expansion to sub- Handbook of Black Studies Page 14 of 25 Sage Sage Reference © 2006 by Sage Publications, Inc. scribers in the United States. Allied to these is the growing incidence of African community newspapers published in the United States for African readers. Among these are USAfrica, African Sun Times, African Abroad, West African News, and African Market News. These have both hard copy versions and online editions and thus are accessible to worldwide readers. A whole new genre of African Diaspora communication is developing and benefiting from advances in communication technology. Many of the newspapers are well produced, in color, and crammed full of valuable information on vital political and business news, as well as timely tidbits on social activities. Many of the publishers are highly educated in the social and natural sciences and are imbued with peculiar patriotic zeal reminiscent of the early nationalist publishers of pre-independence journalism in Africa. This genre of transitional communication deserves more serious study and support because of its potential for in- fluencing developments in Africa. Undoubtedly, some of these transitional (electronic and print) media are in their infancy, so it is too early to know if they can be more than shouting grounds, without any significance beyond representing differing levels of journalistic or rhetorical expressions by Africans and Africanists in the Diaspora. What is not too early to know is their limited scope—for now. Most discussions are of local issues or local perspectives on national issues. Like the transitional media in Africa, these portend great significance if they can be moderated and deployed to achieve more strategic objectives beyond the narrow parochial interests of the creators and pre- sent participants. For now, they deal mostly with ethnic or subnational problems of resource sharing and en- titlement. Some of them pay some attention to strategies for nation building but are obviously constrained by limited access to necessary new knowledge on regional issues such as integration, environment, economic and political development, and security. Undoubtedly, these transitional and Diaspora media portend a great force for African development if they can collaborate strategically with pro-African groups such as the Congressional Black Caucus or Professional As- sociations of African Americans in Communication. The sustainable development of Africa and the projection of more positive images of the continent and its peoples require more strategic uses of traditional, modern, and transitional communication to achieve well-defined objectives. At present, African interests are not well projected by specialist lobbyists in U.S. Government, the United Nations, and G-7 circles. Some of these tran- sitional media can play vital roles in promoting better positioning of Africa and African affairs in these circles, with the support of African governments. Unfortunately, many African governments are too concerned about bread-and-butter issues to pay sufficient attention to public diplomacy and international images. African Stud- Handbook of Black Studies Page 15 of 25 Sage Sage Reference © 2006 by Sage Publications, Inc. ies specialists interested in problem-based and service learning/ teaching approaches can use the evolving Diaspora media and African American professional groups to inaugurate a new era of repositioning African governments to make African countries more attractive for foreign direct investments and general develop- ment support from the world community. African Communication and Development Considering the demographic size of Africa, which accounts for at least 1 in 8 of the world's population today, the inestimable wealth of natural resources, and the eagerness of the major world powers to engage with African leaders, the outlook for African development is promising. Such development will be impossible with- out a reformulation of African communication to make it a veritable force for positive social change on the con- tinent. It is true that African development has been hampered by many factors, the most critical of which are poor economic performance, corruption, lack of planning, and coordination. Other constraints are problems associated with agriculture, education, health, and general apathy on the part of Africans and their friends. Central to these problems is the bifurcation of African societies into two conflicting publics, following from the colonial experience. Although it is unacceptable to always cite colonialism as the sole cause of Africa's un- derdevelopment, there is a genuine case for attributing the problems of the two publics to colonialism and its aftermath. The colonial encounter left a bitter taste in the African's relationship with government. The colo- nial government was rightly seen as an oppressive interloper that was more interested in exploitation than development. The African politicians who took over from the colonialists have not done much to change this perception, and thus today, many Africans have two views of public life—the self (insider) and the other (out- sider). As Ekeh (1992) explains this, on the one hand is “the civic public,” which is characterized by amoral codes of behavior, and the apparatus of the formal state (or government). Government is seen as “the other,” not us—neither for us nor by us—and not worth dying for. Cheating the state is seen as prudence. On the oth- er hand is the “primordial public, whose value premises are moral, binding together members of the same natural and assumed kinship (including ethnic groupings)” (p. 193). Examples are village, ethnic, or religious associations, where Africans are prepared to lay down their lives in the interest of these groups and their members. This bifurcation leads to the pervasive feeling that there is no morality in government, whereas in our primordial relationships of family or ethnic circumstances, high ethical and moral principles prevail. The Handbook of Black Studies Page 16 of 25 Sage Sage Reference © 2006 by Sage Publications, Inc. two foreign religions—Christianity and Islam—can have moderating influences on the two publics, but such influences are limited and can exacerbate feelings of conflict. Mazrui (1986) explains the conflict between the indigenous and the foreign as the triple heritage of Christian- ity, Islam, and African traditional religions, a conflict that leaves the African hanging in religious and cultural space where he or she is torn and tossed by the demands of foreign and traditional beliefs. The two foreign re- ligions (Christianity and Islam) have not promoted sustainable development of Africa, even though they have attracted many followers who are not enamored of traditional African religion. Many educated Africans see little merit in the indigenous religions, which they are too eager to abandon in favor of the imported religions. Religion by itself is not an all-powerful tool for development, although its contribution to Western economic development is significant. But the abandonment of indigenous African religion is yet another indication of the African's fascination with foreign ideas, even when these may not be better than local varieties. African development cannot come from wholesale adoption of foreign ideas. African communication has not done a commendable job of asserting the authenticity of African values, methods, and techniques in the development arena. Development needs homegrown values. African development is hampered by the conflict inherent in the dual perception of civic and primordial publics. The examples of successful East Asian countries that have developed phenomenally in the last two decades show that communication and homegrown principles are fundamental requirements for development. The Asian countries were at the same level of underdevelopment with African countries in the 1950s but have now joined the ranks of developed countries, largely through relevant variables fitting so nicely to create the so-called miracles. An analysis of these factors shows that when a country has wise leaders, a disciplined and professional civil service, an educated population, and a high degree of equity, it possesses the neces- sary ingredients for development (Root, 1996). Interlinking these qualities is communication, which serves as the sinew that binds them together and the oil that lubricates the various parts of the economy and polity. The East Asian success stories can be replicated in other developing regions, including Africa, for as Pye (1998) has argued, it is clear that these success stories “to a surprising degree, adhered very closely to the script au- thored by conventional development theory and did not depend on any unique or mysterious Asian elements” (p. 228). The elements were not exclusively Asian but were propagated in an Asian context. Communica- tion—in the broad sense encompassing traditional, modern mass media, and transitional mechanisms—has clear roles in the promotion of homegrown values and strategies for sustainable development. But are African communicators ready to lend support to African development? In analyzing the developments Handbook of Black Studies Page 17 of 25 Sage Sage Reference © 2006 by Sage Publications, Inc. of the media in Africa and Asia, Hachten (1993) described the former as failures and the latter as success sto- ries. Not only have African media not lived up to the billing as tools for development, unlike their Asian coun- terparts, but also in some cases they have been victims at the hands of authoritarian regimes. African media are plagued by many problems such as poverty, political instability, economic hardship, and ethnic dissension. The search for an African way or method to redressing the situation is afoot, at various forums, especially at the United Nations and the G-7 community. The starting point is a popularization of political democracy, universal secondary education, press freedom, good governance, and an enlightened civil service. In the wake of multiparty democracy in many African countries, the outlook for positive change is promising, although dark clouds on the political horizon portend serious threats. After 5 decades of serendipitous experi- ments, Africa has not developed and modernized quickly along Western lines, as expected. It is time for more emphasis on Afrocentric approaches that integrate appropriate foreign methods with matching indigenous strategies to achieve sustainable desirable results. But the key is to find an authentic African way. According to Hachten (1993), “An African way, one more in tune with African traditions and history, needs to be found” (p. 113) instead of wholesale importation of foreign methods and values. The mass media will help in the diffi- cult task of seeking workable solutions to Africa's problems of development. Without doubt, “a vital, free, and effective press that truly serves the needs of Africans can play an important role in aiding the rebuilding of African societies” (p. 114). Now that globalization forces have made the world more like one polity, failure in one small region has serious implications for the continued well-being of the others. It is in the overall interest of the world that Africa succeeds. A problem-ridden Africa is a security risk for the world. In the context of the war on terrorism, African development presents serious implications for global security. Some of the loosely held African nations can be easy recruiting grounds for international terrorist groups, which are looking for pockets of idle, uneducated, and angry youths. It is partly for this, but more for Africa's potential as a trading partner, that the United States is beginning to develop some partnerships in Africa. The United States now realizes that four of every five new consumers now come from the developing region—and soon, 1 billion of these will be in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2002, U.S. exports to sub-Saharan Africa were 46% greater than those to the former Soviet republics (including Russia), 47% greater than exports to India, and nearly double that to Eastern Europe. U.S. exports to South Africa alone were more than those to Russia. These figures are more when we add the Arab countries of North Africa (Feldman, 2003). Population esti- mates from the U.N. show that by 2300, Africa will account for about 25% of the world population. Such po- tentials for African relevance in world affairs are significant only if African communication fulfils its expected role as a tool for development and for repositioning the continent. Handbook of Black Studies Page 18 of 25 Sage Sage Reference © 2006 by Sage Publications, Inc. The continued failure of development in Africa is partly a result of the failure of African communication, which has not seriously addressed the continent's major development problems, such as trade issues (imbalance and inequity), taxation, government income generation and expenditure, investment policies, and develop- ment assistance, among others. In the era of the Cold War, African communication was too much a part of the established order to question many of the dubious relations with the Soviet Union or the Western hege- monies. In this post-Cold War world, African communicators are too accepting of the inevitability of U.S. dom- ination and have not shown any keen interest in scrutinizing so-called international development or humani- tarian assistance to Africa. For instance, the U.S. Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief is to provide $10 billion to 14 countries (12 of which are African) over 5 years. The annual per capita value is so puny it will not make any significant impact in AIDS programming in Africa. On the other hand, American oil companies are now engaging in a Berlin-conference-type sharing of oil ex- ploration rights in Africa. The case of Equatorial Guinea is typical. This small country of a tiny strip of mainland and five inhabited islands has a population of about half a million people and is one of America's new found African friends, which are set to provide about 25% of all U.S. petroleum needs within the next decade. Equa- torial Guinea, which has been dubbed the “Kuwait of Africa” because it has so few people and so much oil, has the third largest reserves in Africa. It lacks a meaningful democracy, and like the other oil-rich countries in Africa, it is riddled with corruption. In spite of all the revenue from petroleum resources, the people still live in abject poverty. This and similar cases of exploitation on a grand scale in Africa have not attracted the at- tention of the media in Africa. African development needs a new communication approach that will focus on providing public enlightenment, critical analyses, and involvement of the people in considering alternative solutions to their problems. Africa is bedeviled by a myriad of serious problems, which the media are blind to. However, in spite of the failure of African communication in being an engine for sustainable development of the continent, the future is not as bleak as some Afro-pessimists characterize it. The Future of African Communication It is nearly a new day in Africa now, with respect to various aspects of communication, especially media de- velopment, media pluralism, and press freedom. Political democracy, private media ownership, and greater involvement of civil society organizations in civic communication now make it easier for diverse points of view Handbook of Black Studies Page 19 of 25 Sage Sage Reference © 2006 by Sage Publications, Inc. to be accommodated by the new civilian governments that are increasingly becoming the norm in Africa. All across the continent, there are many new cases of successful elections, although some of the new leaders are recycled military dictators, who are often intolerant of criticism and robust expressions of press freedom. The sociopolitical climates in the individual countries and the personalities of the heads of government are some of the factors that flavor the exercise of freedom by journalists (Eribo & Jong-Ebot, 1997). Most of the countries are poor, and many are ravaged by HIV/AIDS, but some national economies are doing better now. Every country is looking outward to attract foreign direct investors and seeking ways to benefit from the in- evitable forces of globalization, which are proving to be unstoppable harbingers of both good and bad tidings. The global clamoring for political democracy is giving greater voice to local activists who oppose government oppression and high-handedness. There are signs of perseverance against government oppression. The situation is more tolerable because of some significant gains in the fight for press freedom. Karikari (2000) reports signs of hope in the horizon. In Ghana, the Supreme Court ruled that the National Media Commission, an independent constitutional body (and not the government), has power to appoint heads of state-owned media. This used to be an easy tool for suppressing press freedom. In Nigeria, the Media Rights Agenda is openly canvassing for the passage of a Freedom of Information Act. This would have been a suicidal action in the military regimes that had domi- nated Nigerian politics. The hope for progress comes from “the resilience of the media and the determination to exist and be relevant in a region so tormented politically and battered economically” (Karikari, 2000, p. 2). Although the situation in Zimbabwe where journalists are routinely harassed and detained for their political views is dispiriting, it is obviously an aberration and not the standard. The trial of President Chiluba of Zambia for corruption and the empaneling of an anticorruption committee in Kenya are new developments that could not be imagined 10 years ago. These new developments are getting good coverage both within Africa and in the transitional African media in the Diaspora. There is hope that African Diaspora communication will become more relevant, finding new creative ways to significantly affect development of the continent and providing a new twist to the relevance of global journalism in development. Although global journalism is bedeviled with many problems (Hachten, 1998), these are not insurmountable where there is commitment to the enlightened use of the mass media for positive change in society. The future is bright indeed for the employment of modern communication technology to support the devel- opment of African peoples. There is some evidence of the well-directed use of modern and traditional com- munication to create awareness, provide education, and mobilize the people, although there are national and Handbook of Black Studies Page 20 of 25 Sage Sage Reference © 2006 by Sage Publications, Inc. regional variations in the scale of production regarding the various media. South Africa, Kenya, and Zimbab- we, for example, are leading countries in television series and documentaries, and Nigeria and Ghana are ahead in the projection of indigenous African culture through television and radio drama. South Africa and Nigeria are now exporting some of their television programs to other African countries. What is still lacking are pan-regional efforts to strategically use communication campaigns to address the continent's most serious problems of HIV/AIDS, poor agricultural production, political democracy, and ethnic conflicts. The future of communication in Africa is closely related to the future of politics on the continent. Africa's future political development will depend to a large extent on the ability of the continent's leaders to manage dissent, promote democracy, and guarantee universal education. The level of well-being in the individual countries will no doubt affect these efforts. Although communication is affected by the political climate, Africa's political future must be made to benefit from some of the recent positive developments in communication. Contrary to the pessimism prevalent in some circles about prospects for African development, Bourgault (1995) has proffered the view that Africa holds great promise for the survival of the planet. In her glorified view of African communication and development, she opined that although the decade of the 1990s was fraught with per- ils for Africa, the new century holds much promise for African development. The key is “Africa's precolonial, community-based values of harmony, plurality, and balance” which are “well suited to a steady state commu- nitarian world order toward which the planet must inevitably move or face perdition” (p. 256). She is confident that within this new century, “Africa will need to gather its human resources to spread its social models of plurality and harmony over the planet” (p. 256). Conclusion Communication in Africa is markedly different from what we have in other parts of the world. This is not sur- prising because human communication in every society takes on a coloration that reflects the dominant and minority social beliefs, values, and ethos of the people. In the case of Africa, the peculiar history of colonial- ism and the pervasive influence of foreign media, especially in this age of globalization, have combined with some unique aspects of African culture to yield the peculiar African communication of today. Where else can we find the modern media so closely integrated with oramedia or so much newspaper space taken up by uniquely African cultural content such as obituary advertisements and congratulatory messages? The new African newspapers in the Diaspora have continued this African newspaper tradition of being a marketplace Handbook of Black Studies Page 21 of 25 Sage Sage Reference © 2006 by Sage Publications, Inc. for social announcements. The listservs and electronic discussions, which are managed by Africans in the Diaspora, are laden with social commentary and invitations to graduation and naming ceremonies, as well as funeral wakes. On African radio, the talk show and phone-in formats are being Africanized considerably to make them ex- tensions of African traditional communication. Unlike television news in any other part of the world, African television news is predominantly protocol news of the comings and goings of government officials. This is a carryover from the colonial era and immediate postcolonial period when all television was owned and oper- ated by government. Even with privatization of the broadcast media, the new private operators are finding that some old habits die hard. African television features are largely drama shows on traditional themes such as marriages, funerals, witchcraft, and occultism. The burgeoning new genre of Diaspora communication will become more important in the future, as many African immigrants become more affluent, increasingly aspire to be active in discussions of African affairs, and seek ways to take something back to their native countries. Diaspora media are truly independent and privately owned. Therein lies their power as tools for objective crit- icism and as a model for the mass media in Africa. As the World Bank (2002) has found from its analysis of the relationship between independent media and development, those countries with privately owned, local, in- dependent media outlets have less corruption, more transparent economies, stronger democratic structures, and higher indices of education and health. The independent Diaspora media, although presently feeble and uncoordinated, should seek ways to influence the modern mass media in Africa. The final picture that emerges is that the African communication is changing with the society and living up to the challenges of pervasive incursion from global communication. How well African communicators in the continent and in the Diaspora discharge their onerous responsibilities as chroniclers of the times, transmitters of the social heritage, and agents of change will depend on the resilience of these operators, the demands of the audience, and the willingness of the political leadership to lend necessary support. From all indications, the future of the continent, which was the cradle of human civilization, is bright indeed, although there are ever-present clouds of skepticism. In the realization of its destined position among world cultures, Africa must rely on strategic uses of oramedia and modern communication to achieve desired development targets. The experience of the interface between communication and development in other parts of the world shows clear- ly that these media and human communication cannot advance too far ahead of the societies within which they are used. In this age of global communication, African communication cannot lag far behind the world standard, nor will African development be left to chance. African communicators in the continent and the Di- aspora are planting the seeds for positive change now, and the future looks bright for better uses of African Handbook of Black Studies Page 22 of 25 Sage Sage Reference © 2006 by Sage Publications, Inc. communication to address Africa's myriad problems of economic and social development. References Berwanger, D. (1987). Television in the third world: New technologies and social change. Bonn, Germany: Friedrich Ebert Foundation. Bourgault, L. M. (1995). Mass media in Sub Saharan Africa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Brown, R. (1969). 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Ziegler, D., & Asante, M. (1992). Thunder and silence: The mass media in Africa. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press. Africa African diaspora diaspora mass media media broadcasting Nigeria https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412982696 Handbook of Black Studies Page 25 of 25