"[...] this issue of the Journal features a symposium of communication scholarship with Latin America as its focus. The symposium was suggested and skillfully brought to fruition by Elizabeth Fox, a Washington, D .C.-based communication policy researcher with broad contacts and experience in Latin A
...
merica. As Dr. Fox notes in her introduction, this symposium shows how Latin American scholars are “concerned with basic issues of democratization and equality, while searching for new paths of scientific analysis, policy relevance, and social application.” Those values (democracy and equality) and those goals (policy relevance and social applications) are particularly pronounced in Latin American scholarship. But I would argue that they are also well worth some serious thought by all of us who work as communication researchers and who would like to see what we do make a positive difference in the world." (Editor's note)
more
"In December 1991, upon the initiative of the London-based World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) in collaboration with Isis International in Manila and the International Women's Tribune Centre (IWTC) based in New York, the concept of the Women Empowering Communication global conferenc
...
e was crystallized. Now, over two years later, and after several planning meetings and preparatory work, the global conference. Women Empowering Communication in Thailand is a reality. Isis International, in addition to its principal role as a co-organizer, wanted to make a tangible contribution to the conference. Thus we bring to you this issue of Women in Action, a collection of articles on women's experiences in community media from the regions of Africa, Asia, Caribbean, Latin America and the Pacific. The conference participants constitute representatives of women's networks, alternative media, grassroots groups, the academe and other disciplines. It seems only fitting that we share with them how individual women and women's groups have creatively expressed themselves in various media forms in the community setting. In fact, we have featured some of the participating groups in the conference such as Video SEWA, Sistren Theatre Collective, and Cine Mujer. These women have set inspiring examples of how we can utilize varying media expressions not only to attain, self-empowerment but also to improve the portrayal of women in media. They have shown us the similarities in the lives and struggles of women all over the globe, despite cultural and geographical boundaries. What is even more encouraging is that these women's voices come from the community. They have successfully explored in very creative ways the use of low cost media such as song, dance, street theater, drawings, posters, puppetry and flipcharts. There are many other women's groups who have done some very good work in community media such ; as FIRE (Feminist International Radio Endeavour), a feminist radio program in Costa Rica and the East Sepik Documentation Project in the Pacific. We also acknowledge the value of traditional forms of expression such as arpilleras and tapestries, woven stories on cloth by women in Chile, Peru and the Philippines and the khanga, a piece of cloth used as a communication tool by women in Africa.. What we have presented here is but a microviewing of women's experiences in community -media. In bringing this to the Women Empowering Communication conference, we join in the gathering of women i communicators who will enrich us with the breadth and depth of their experiences in media." (Editorial)
more
"D’innombrables groupes utilisent aujourd’hui la vidéo légère comme moyen d’appuyer des combats locaux pour la dignité, la terre, l’habitat, et forcer l’écoute des décideurs. D’autres réussissent, au prix de mille difficultés, à accéder aux chaînes de télévision régionales
...
et nationales. Les expériences présentées dans ce livre permettent de réfléchir aux conditions d’une communication au service de tous." (Description de la maison d'édition)
more
"The primary objective of this book is to present a wide range of community radio projects, not so that the “ideal” model can be identified, but in the hope that the book will serve as a useful tool for community broadcasters and potential community broadcasters looking to create or adapt models
...
of community radio that are suited to the specific conditions they face. This objective of facilitating an international exchange of experiences and ideas has been AMARC’s primary motivator since the first World Conference of Community Radio Broadcasters took place in 1983. The use of radio as a tool for cultural and political change, while a growing phenomena, is not new. Indeed, the first participatory community radio stations surfaced almost simultaneously in Colombia and the United States over forty years ago. Since that time, innumerable participatory radio projects have attempted to promote community-led change in a variety of ways. Some of these projects have attempted to foster this change by providing formal education in areas such as literacy and mathematics, or by promoting agricultural techniques suited to a particular vision of development defined by the central government. This type of project has been common in the Third World, especially in Africa and Asia. Sri Lanka’s Mahaweli Community Radio (chapter 13) is one example of such a project. Other projects have been more political and have attempted to support the organisational and cultural initiatives of marginalised communities. These are the projects that tend to involve listeners in a participatory process. Haiti’s Radio Soleil (chapter 9) and Zoom Black Magic Liberation Radio in the United States (chapter 10) are two examples. Following the tradition of participatory communication, most of the chapters in this book are not written by impartial observers but by people with first-hand knowledge of community radio and with direct experience in the projects they write about." (Introduction)
more