"This collection of eighteen essays of uneven richness underserved by an overly thin two-page introduction brings together some of the best known names in Development Communication in an attempt to understand African aspirations, experiences, challenges and the place of communication in development.
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Coming at this stage in a debate that has generated much conventional and critical scholarship, one would have expected the editors to aim at much more than simply providing space for contributors to offer "a fillip and not necessarily a panacea for development" (Page x). The "desirable and useful" (Page x) approaches the book explores would certainly have served their purpose better, within a framework of the need to critically rethink conventional scholarly assumptions about communication and development, especially in relation to Africa [...] Nonetheless, a good number of the contributions competently discuss competing perspectives on development communication (e.g. Pye, Servaes, Jacobson), drawing attention to how practices on and in Africa have tended to impair or enhance the participatory and emancipatory potential of development communication. Some focus closely on communication technologies and their applications (e.g., de Beer, Melkote and Steeves, Eribo), advocating strategies and approaches informed by varying degrees of faith in the capacity of modern information and communication technologies (ICTs) to transform individuals and societies in the name of development. Most of the book makes a strong, even if not always substantiated or negotiated, case for the importance of "indigenous African cultures," if media and communication practices are to adequately serve and service African thirsts for development (Asante, Mazrui and Okigbo, Okigbo, Hachten, Stevenson, Amienyi, Akhahenda, Moemeka, Singhal et al., Okumu, Nganje and Blake). A conscious effort to engage similar debates in anthropology and cultural studies for example, could have yielded further insights." (https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=10843)
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"Addressing the use of communication (interpersonal, folk, traditional, group, organizational, and mass media) in the development process, this book discusses some of the conceptual and theoretical basis for integrating communication effectively into development plans and execution. It also examines
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the rationale and practical necessity for such integration, and uses case studies to demonstrate how to positively take advantage of communication potentials and possibilities while avoiding possible dysfunctions." (https://eric.ed.gov)
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"This volume is designed to revolutionize the field of communication by identifying a broad ethical theory which transcends the world of mass media practice to reveal a more humane and responsible
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code of values. The contributors, representing a diverse range of intercultural perspectives, defend the possibility of universal moral imperatives such as justice, reciprocity and human dignity. Through an examination of the values in which their cultures are grounded, they provide a short list of ethical principles which form the common ground from which to view contemporary issues in the media, interpersonal communication, mediation and conflict resolution." (Publisher description)
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