"Participatory Action Research (PAR) is a subset of action research; it is critical research guided by an emancipatory interest. Critical PAR is committed to social transformation for justice. It is a heuristic approach, which incorporates a praxis that involves social and political action. PAR is c
...
ommitted to recapturing and empowering the knowledges of the subaltern through appropriate political and social action informed by a praxis involving local knowledge generation, debate, reflection, and social/political action. In this chapter, we present the scholarship in PAR within the broad field of communication and development studies by tracing its evolution since the mid-20th Century. We will undertake a detailed discussion of PAR and its praxis within the empowerment paradigm in devcom studies. We will explicate the PAR methodology and praxis, outline guiding tenets for PAR, describe the roles of development communication workers in empowerment/PAR process and provide examples of participatory action research." (Abstract)
more
"This incisive Handbook critically examines the role and place of media and communication in development and social change, reflecting a vision for change anchored in values of social justice. Outlining the genealogy and history of the field, it then investigates the possible new directions and obje
...
ctives in the area. Key conclusions include an enhanced role for development communication in participatory development, active agency of stakeholders of development programs, and the operationalization of social justice in development." (Publisher description)
more
"Only one of Freire’s (1969/1983) books directly and more broadly addresses the scope of communication; it is 'Extension or Communication?' published in 1969, originally in Spanish, during Freire’s exile in Chile. This book became an important reference for the studies and practices of participa
...
tory communication worldwide and was decisive for the review of diffusion models, which took communication as a tool to guide the reproduction of models considered modern and developed, without paying attention to local experiences and knowledge. Approached more broadly, the transversality of communication in Freire’s pedagogical perspective can be discussed from at least three perspectives. The first combines language, education and communication. The second links education and communication with popular mobilization and, more openly, with processes of political engagement. The third stems from Freire’s own critical positioning in relation to the media. These three inflections will be discussed in more detail throughout the material compiled in this edition of MATRIZes." (Introduction, page 5)
more
"This book critically examines directed social change theory and practice while presenting a conceptual framework of development communication to address inequality and injustice in contemporary contexts. This third edition features significantly revised and updated chapters to include the latest sc
...
holarship on, and practices of, media and communication for development. It explores empowerment and social justice to individuals and communities around the world in the context of increasing globalization. Tracing the history of development communication, it looks objectively at diverse approaches and their supporters, and goes on to provide models for the future. It also offers a new chapter presenting the authors' framework foregrounding empowerment and social justice as goals for development communication in the 21st century." (Publisher description)
more
"We are pleased to be sharing with you the second yearbook on media and information literacy and intercultural dialogue. The first MILID Yearbook was published in June 2013 [...] The theme of the 2014 Yearbook is Global Citizenship in a Digital World. Global citizenship assumes ease of participation
...
in global spaces in which persons are media and information literate and are equipped with competencies and attitudes to deal with the multi-faceted nature of a mediated world in which information is no longer bound by space or time. The unprecedented access to and use of media and Internet technologies for communication and collaboration especially among youth, suggest that effective strategies must be found to enable active critical inquiry and effective media production." (Foreword, page 7)
more
"Popular Media, Democracy and Development in Africa examines the role that popular media could play to encourage political debate, provide information for development, or critique the very definitions of 'democracy' and 'development'. Drawing on diverse case studies from various regions of the Afric
...
an continent, essays employ a range of theoretical and methodological approaches to ask critical questions about the potential of popular media to contribute to democratic culture, provide sites of resistance, or, conversely, act as agents for the spread of Americanized entertainment culture to the detriment of local traditions. A wide variety of media formats and platforms are discussed, ranging from radio and television to the Internet, mobile phones, street posters, film and music." (Publisher description)
more
"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.
...
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)
more
"This completely revised edition builds on the framework provided by the earlier text. It traces the history of development communication, presents and critiques diverse approaches and their proponents, and provides ideas and models for development communication in the new century." (Publisher descr
...
iption)
more
"To reshape the field of development communication, Redeveloping Communication for Social Change proposes situating theory and practice within contexts of power, recognizing both the ability of dominant groups to control and the potential for marginal communities to resist. Contributors from communi
...
cation and anthropology explore the global and institutional structures within which agencies construct social problems and interventions, the discourse guiding the normative climate for conceiving and implementing projects, and the practice of strategic interventions for social change. Examining early and emerging models of development, power dynamics, ethnographic approaches, gender issues, and information technologies, they speculate how a framework accounting for power might contribute toward new directions and applications in the field. Instead of mourning the demise of development communication, this volume should provoke critical debate that will help us change our approaches to meet new challenges." (Publisher description)
more
"We examine and interpret the role of the government-controlled Radio-Television Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, which involved mass killings both of and by civilians. We consider the historical and political context of the genocide and analyze excerpts from RTLM radio
...
broadcasts and observational accounts, and we interpret, via several strands of communication scholarship related to collective reaction effects and dependency theory, the role played by radio in inciting the genocide." (Abstract)
more