The Decolonial Turn in Media Studies in Africa and the Global South

318 Pages·2020·4.735 MB·English

by  Last Moyo

The Decolonial Turn in
Media Studies in Africa
and the Global South
Last Moyo
The Decolonial Turn in Media Studies in Africa
and the Global South
“This very interesting and potentially controversial book begs for a robust and
honestdiscussioninmediaandcommunicationstudies.Itarguesforthedecolo-
nization of the field through what Last Moyo refers to as the decolonial turn, a
turn he argues, should bring about cognitive justice in the field and relocate the
project of theory building from Western universalism to decolonial multicultur-
alismemergingfromthedecolonialthinkingofmediascholarsinboththeGlobal
North and the Global South. A very powerful and no holds barred critique.”
—Professor Helge Rønning, Professor Emeritus, Media and Communication
Studies, University of Oslo, Norway
“Thisbookisauniquetheoreticalcontributiontothede-Westernisingandmulti-
culturalism debates in media and communication studies. It adds a fresh and
robustAfricanvoicetothecontemporarydebatesaboutthetheoreticaldirections
of our field. Last Moyo provides a new critical imagination which goes beyond
Africa as he both rethinks and unthinks the field within conditions of the Global
South. Moyo asks if the South can produce its own radical critical media theory
informed by its colonial subalternity in the Euro-American world system? His
answer,basedonadeepreflectionandcritical engagementwithcurrentdebates,
is deep, conceptually nuanced, and impressively optimistic.”
—Dr. Winston Mano, Reader in Media and Communication Studies,
Editor-in-Chief, Journal of African Media Studies; University of Westminster,
United Kingdom
“With this book, Last Moyo has added a powerful and unequivocal voice to the
projectofthedecolonizationofmediaandcommunicationstudies.Withamulti-
culturalandnon-partisanlens,thebookprovidesusadeepgazeintotheknowl-
edge politics of the interdiscipline. This work represents a bold statement from
Moyo about the significance of decolonizing media and communication studies
for a true multicultural theory. This effort deserves our resounding applause.”
—Professor Abiodun Salawu, Director of the Research entity, Indigenous
Language Media in Africa, North-West University, South Africa
Last Moyo
The Decolonial Turn
in Media Studies
in Africa
and the Global South
Last Moyo
Department of Communication and Multimedia Design
American University of Nigeria
Yola, Nigeria
ISBN 978-3-030-52831-7 ISBN 978-3-030-52832-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52832-4
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For my mother,
With the tenderness of a rose and the resolve of a soldier.
For my wife,
A beauty personified beyond perfect art.
And for my children,
The pearls I hold in the delicate palm of a loving heart,
Until the end of time.
Foreword
The Decolonial Turn in Media Studies in Africa and the Global South is
a timely as well as a necessary book which surfaces the key questions and
issuesthathavebeendebatedforsometimenow.Forexample,oneofthe
most recurring questions in the book is: To what extent does Africa and
the Global South have any distinguishable theoretical approaches or do
they just transposetheories, methodologies, and pedagogies more appro-
priate to the Global North? Put differently the author asks the questions:
WhatisAfricanaboutAfricanmediaandcommunicationstudiesorAsian
about Asian media and communication studies or Latino about the field
in Latin America? The author situates these questions within a decolo-
nial critique of media and communication studies, a turn that is not only
culturalandepistemic,butalsoemphasizesthevalueofthedecolonization
imperative as a route to a transformed discipline.
The book represents an ambitious and compelling critique where the
author does not limit his analysis to Africa, but also expands it to the
GlobalSouth.Asananalyticalcategory,theauthorarguesthattheGlobal
Southisnotlimitedtoageo-politicalconfiguration,butcanalsoberecast
as non-geographical effective for analysing questions of culture, power
imbalances at multiple levels in knowledge creation, and the project of
multiculturalism that underpins social and cognitive justice for a trans-
formed discipline and world in an unequal global village. To that extent,
the book develops a conceptual apparatus of the Global South that helps
vii
viii FOREWORD
the reader to rethink previous geo-political characterizations of place in
the discipline and manifestations of culture and hegemonic knowledges.
The book elevates the debates on how, and from what epistemic
and theoretical positions, critiques of media and communication in the
Global South can be raised to the next level of asking much deeper ques-
tions about transforming media and communication studies. It does so
by, among other ways, making searing critiques of extant traditions in
communication and media studies, especially the dominant and hege-
monictheoretical traditions of the Global North.In this regardthe book
isveryprovocativeandwillelicitalotofdebatesandperhapsevenfiercely
criticalcounterargumentsasagoodbookshoulddo.Therewillbealotto
agreewithandperhapsasmuchtocontendwithinthebroaderarguments
made by the book on theory, methods, and pedagogies of the South.
However, what is crystal clear is that the author does not tinker at the
edge of the debates about the field, but delves deeper by taking a histor-
ical and contextualized approach that makes the book more grounded,
intellectually provocative, and ground breaking.
The author’s argument is well anchored in historicizing not only the
development of media and communication studies, but that of media
systems as well. Apart from the fact that the book recuperates texts like
theUNESCO’sMcBrideCommission’sreportOneWorldManyVoices of
which most people failed to understand the theoretical, methodological,
pedagogical,policyandregulatoryimplicationsitposited.Thereactionof
the United States and the UK on ideological and geo-political grounds
shrouded what could have been a very rich debate for understanding
media and communication in local contexts and globally. This debate, as
thebookamplydemonstrates,hadahugetransformativepotentialonthe
development of a truly multicultural media and communication studies.
The book also demonstrates a very high level of critical and nuanced
engagementwithdebates,arguments,andpositionsinmediaandcommu-
nication studies that is a pleasure to read and something that is new,
intellectually provocative, and will itself engender interesting debates in
the field. In this regard, it eschews a reductionist approach without
holdingbackfrombeingrobustlycriticalandintellectuallyengaging.The
book demonstrates the author’s vast knowledge and depth of reading in
communication and media studies and decolonial approaches. It demon-
strates an interesting trans-disciplinarity that gives content to the term
‘decolonial’ which has been much bandied about in some books without
much thought or substance. The author has applied himself intelligently
FOREWORD ix
to the task of imagining and laying out the approaches of a decolonial
critique not only to media and communication studies in the Global
South, but in conversation with the Global North. He accomplishes this
task with great proficiency, diligence, and care.
Finally, a major strength of the book is that it asks a lot of deep ques-
tionswhichwillequallyraiseevenmorequestionsandelevatetheNorth-
South dialogue in the discipline to a higher level. Although it does not
necessarilyanswerallofthequestions,itleavesthereaderwithsomeques-
tionstoreflectonaboutthefutureprospectsofthemulticulturalquestion
in media and communication studies. In this respect, the book is not a
closedtextsinceitsdialogicandconversationalpositionismadeclearfrom
theoutset.Scholarsofmediaandcommunicationstudiesandrelatedfields
willfindthatthebookisnotonlyrivetinglycriticalandanalytical,butalso
refreshing and very engaging. We definitely need more such books if we
are to develop theories, methodologies, and pedagogies that anchor the
pursuit of an emancipatory social justice project in the Global South.
Pretoria, South Africa Professor Tawana Kupe
Professor Tawana Kupe Vice Chancellor and Principal at University of
Pretoria, South Africa. Kupe is a full professor of media and communication
studies and a member of the International Council of the IAMCR and several
other academic associations.
Acknowledgements
Everywriter knows how writingcan sometimesfeel like a lonely exercise.
You jump off your bed in the middle of the night awaken not by the
alarm, but a voltage of intellectual energy in the form of a golden idea
that literally brings a poetic moment to life. It’s a moment that switches
off your sleep as soon as you switch on the lights and won’t go until the
muse is done. That was my experience during the last half of 2019 when
Isattowritethisbook.Inrealitythough,Ididnotwritethisbookalone,
but in community. I wrote it in the company of the forerunners of the
interdiscipline, from both the Global North and the Global South: those
who produced path-breaking works that over the years inspired me as an
Africanscholartodevelopmyownargumentabouttheformandcontent
ofmediaandcommunicationstudiesanditspossiblefutures.Needlessto
say,Ialsowrotethebookinthecompanyofcolleagues,academicfriends,
and my family. Their intellectual conversations watered the seeds of some
ofmyauthorialideasandsharpenedthemintothecogentargumentsthat
now form this book.
It therefore makes sense for me to begin by thanking my colleagues in
my department at the American University in Nigeria. I thank professors
Ritchard Mbayo, Samuel Tesunbi, Emeka Umejei, Suleiman Suleiman,
and Abdul Mousa. I would also like to thank other colleagues in the
SchoolofArtsandSciencesfortheintellectualcultureandeverydayschol-
arly exchanges we share in corridors and seminars. I thank professors
Loveday Gbara, Agatha Utaka, Bill Hansen, Patrick Fay, Wasiq Khan,
xi
xii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Jennifer Tyndall, Jennifer Che, Jennifer Lofkrantz, Feisal Farah, and
Ikechuku Ike.
A special thanks also goes to my office colleagues, professors
Mahamadou Sagna and Malachy Okeke for the rich and informative
debates that have come to characterize the jocund and convivial atmo-
sphere of our office. I also feel immensely indebted to professors Bruce
Mutsvairo, Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni, and Tawana Kupe, who have been
partofmyacademicjourneyintodecolonialstudiesinmediaandcommu-
nicationstudies.Inparticular,Ihaveenjoyedthelongtelephonicdebates
and exchanges with some of these colleagues in ways that always helped
me to refine and sharpen some of my ideas in the course of writing this
book.
Whoever said family is everything really said it on my behalf. I could
not have been able to write this book without my family as my pillar
of strength and a fountain of love, peace, and sanity that are a bedrock
for any effort towards sustained critical writing. In particular, I thank my
wife for the sea of motivation that never dried up. She always listened to
my ideas with a keen ear and a positive mind, and always told me how
excellent my ideas were even in those moments when it was clear that I
wasproducingmoreheatthanlight.Ishouldalsothankmydaughtersfor
keeping me sane with their intermittent break-ins into my study and the
unexpected chauffeuring duties they forced me to have for their errands.
As I write this piece, I can see them in my mind’s eye banging my study
door and demanding that I must open because, ‘Daddy don’t forget that
yesterdayyoupromisedtotakeustothebeachforicecream’.Well,every
time that happened, I knew it was time up: the book and the writer have
their own separate lives and as they say, when it’s time to go, it’s time to
go.Lastbutnotleast,ImustthankthePalgrave-McMillanteam,Camille
Davies, Liam McLean, and Naveen Dass for their meticulous job on the
demanding routines of book production from a prototype to something
we can now hold and peruse through. Thank you.