"By assessing edutainment as a space of cultural translation, Drama for Development advances an often neglected perspective in this topics' research. It focuses on what happens when various goals, worldviews and needs from donors, producers and the audiences come together in the production and meani
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ng construction of soap operas. The perspective is illustrated by examples from the largely South Asian experiences of the BBC World Service Trust, itself seen as a cross-cultural contact zone. Tensions between western scientific paradigm and local researcher in the audience research process (chapter 3), the cosmopolitan competencies of the production team in harmonizing the urge for authenticity, cultural sensitivity and development objectives (chapter 6) and the construction of social realism as an interplay of the observed realities of the audiences and the neo-liberal themes of donors (e.g., opium in ch.6 and forced marriage in chapter 11) exemplify some of the processes taking place in that zone. The epistemological position of the book is complementary to the more technical perspective of the existing body of literature, which sometimes fails to capture the complex processes of meaning construction and link it to the wider social context." (commbox)
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"This article identifies radio in Africa as an important social space for interrogating the everyday lives of its listeners. By focusing on a specific Kenyan radio play 'Not Now', the article explores the thematic concern of forced marriage and its moral implications on listeners. Importantly, 'Not
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Now' is pointed out as part of a larger programme of radio drama in Kenya, Radio Theatre, which engages with issues of the quotidian. The debate on forced marriage is therefore a segment of themes explored in radio drama in Kenya that revolve around the domestic sphere and which eventually, it is argued, form part of the quotidian debate." (Abstract)
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