In Global Pandemics in the Media: An African Perspective, Nkosinothando Mpofu, Phillip Santos, Admire Mare and Hugh Ellis have expertly put together a tour de force collection of African perspectives on the varied ways in which journalists, communicators, citizens, government communicators and other stakeholders mediated the recent global pandemics. Using the COVID-19 pandemic as a critical juncture, the book underscores the political nature of (mis)representing, (mis)framing and illuminating stories in a pandemic context. Drawing mostly on case studies from Southern, East, and West Africa, the volume foregrounds the various ways in which the media covered the recent global pandemics. It also looks at how public officials were instrumental in communicating about the causes, nature, prevention, and vaccination-related interventions. It also focuses on citizen-initiated communications on social media and how these were implicated in the viral production and circulation of mis/disinformation
ISBN 978 2 38234 102 5 Nkosinothando Mpofu is a Senior Lecturer, teaching and supervising students in the Department of Informatics, Journalism and Media Technology at the Namibia University of Science and Technology. Phillip Santos teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses in the Department of Journalism and Media Technology at the Namibia University of Science and Technology. Admire Mare is an Associate Professor and Head of Department of Communication and Media at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. Hugh Ellis is a Senior Lecturer and Head of Department of Journalism and Media Technology at the Namibia University of Science and Technology.The central idea of this book is that African children are future-makers. The book explores the connections between changing childhoods and versions of African futures to develop insights into how children are living embodiments of history and prospective agents of social change. Drawing on research in diverse cultural ecologies, the authors of ten chapters discuss findings linked to apprenticeship, learning, work, rights, schools, peace, education, aspirations, conflicts and refugee integration—and how these are encountered by children in everyday life. They describe studies in Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe. The book moves beyond hegemonic notions on African children, affording them the capacity to aspire, widening their creative imaginations in ways that deepen our knowledge of past and present childhoods. While tracing the problems of childhood in the exigencies of society, children are conceptualised neither as victims nor heroes. Instead, they are social participants whose experiences, values, desires, practices and hopes create a fertile analytical ground from which we may theorise the future and temporality more fully.
Tatek Abebe is Professor of Childhood Studies and Development Studies at Norwegian University of Sciences and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway. He founded and was the co-ordinator of the Nordic Network of African Children and Youth Research (2011–2016). In 2017, he was Director of CODESRIA’s Child and Youth Institute. He serves on the Editorial Board of several journals, including Childhood, Children’s Geographies and the Ethiopian Journal of Environment and Development.