Papers
Helge Rønning
Democracy, Civil Society and the Media in Africa in the
Nineties. A Discussion of the Emergence and Relevance of Some
Analytical Concepts for the Understanding of the Situation in
Africa
Abstract
The
article argues that the relationship between state and civil
society in an African context constitute a dialectic between a
weak state and a weak civil society. The question of the
separation between state and civil society in Africa cannot be
understood apart from recent changes in Eastern Europe, with
the demise of communism on the one hand, and the rise of
neo-liberalism on the other. Also, the state/society
problematic in Africa is linked to the inheritance from the
European experience of the nineteenth century, and to the
economic restructuring programmes of the 1980s and the 1990s.
Civil society in Africa is seen as constituted by a variety of
social movements which through their forms of communication
tap on and recreate existing and new collective identities.
The article gives special attention to the case in Zimbabwe
and the role of the media and civil society there.
Temba S. B. Masilela
Election 1994: Legitimation and Multiple Identities in
the South African Media
Abstract
The
1994 election was a turning point in South African political
discourse concerning identity politics and an important period
for research on legitimation processes and political discourse.
Until the election, the racial and ethnic conflicts were the
main issue in political discourse, causing violent riots and
tension. But as the new political order was envisaged and the
election was confirmed, the need for legitimation of
collective identities and identity politics changed. In the
political discourse leading up to the 1994 election, issues
and conflicts on race and collective identity were silenced by
media, thereby contributing to a kind of collective amnesia to
reconcile the political conflicts of the past. Both the
African National Congress (ANC) and the National Party (NP)
used evaluative campaign research to develop their main
strategies. While the ANC tried to downplay the role of
cultural diversity in South Africa, the NP found it effective
to stress minority rights and defence for ethnicity in its
communication campaigns. Other smaller parties also chose this
strategy. Since the 1994 election, a rhetoric of unity across
multicultural cleavages has emerged.
Ullamaija Kivikuru
New Forms of Cultural Identity in an African Society
Abstract
This
article argues that the media offer a way of reading cultural
identity. The theme of collective identity is conceptualized
quite differently in the Northern and the Southern hemispheres,
due to different historical processes of political and
societal change. In the African context, the three liberation
struggles of colonial liberation, political-economic
liberation and fight against authoritarianism have taken place
within a short period of time. Hence, the customary western
modes of thinking about identity politics in late modernity
easily lead to false assumptions when transposed to the
African context. In Africa, the locality and life-world
experiences in the village are more important than global
‘mediascapes’ and ‘ideoscapes’, and the article
discusses present changes concerning cultural identities in
Africa, particularly in Tanzania and Kenya.
Tawana Kupe
New Forms of Cultural Identity in an African Society:
Comment to the paper by Ullamaija Kivikuru
Abstract
The
article argues that it is hard to see that media development
so far has contributed either to economic development or to
political liberalization in African states. The media
situation and the literacy problems is connected to social
differences and tensions between elites vs. local populations
and the urban culture vs. the village. Media transmits
stereotypes of modernity and urban life that are conflicting
with rural and traditional cultural identities. It is being
argued that media changes in the future will make things even
worse. African countries are confronted with globalized media
trespassing into rural culture and establishing themselves in
local consumption patterns, before local media structures have
had the possibility to develop. This means a severe threat to
local culture and to the possibility of developing civil
society at the local level.
Lloyd M.
Sachikonye
Civil Society, Social Movements and Democracy in
Southern Africa
Abstract
The
article reviews the theory of civil society and social
movements in a general perspective and relates the theoretical
argument to recent economic and political changes in Southern
African states. Salient aspects of civil society and its role
in the democratic process are analyzed. The role of economic
elites is equivocal, both because of the racial dimension in
their composition and in the way they avoid addressing
problems of living standards of the working class. The most
important institutions of civil society are the universities
and the church, whereas the role of media is less important
than one might have expected, because of widespread state
control and state ownership. The article analyzes the
particular role of different social movements and offers an
interesting comparison of their strengths and weaknesses in
democratization processes in various Southern African
countries.
