[Commlist] Journal of African Media Studies 10.3 published

Intellect is pleased to announce that the Journal of African Media 
Studies 10.3 is now available!

For more information about the issue, click here >> 
https://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-issue,id=3684/

*_Contents_*

*African cinema on demand? The politics of online distribution and the 
case of the African Film Library*
Authors: Alexander Fisher

This article considers the impact of online distribution on the 
long-term availability and preservation of African cinema. It examines 
the case of Electronic Media Network’s (M-Net) African Film Library 
(AFL), a video-on-demand (VOD) library of classic African films that was 
launched in 2012, but taken offline by 2013. The article argues that 
this short-lived project represents a pivotal moment in the way we think 
about African film archiving and distribution, in which new technologies 
and consequently disintermediated business models promised to facilitate 
the circulation of African films in a manner that was socially 
beneficial, but which in reality resulted in monopolistic control of the 
content that presented a serious threat to its long-term preservation. 
The article goes on to argue that the AFL case encapsulates the entire 
discourse surrounding the shift to online distribution, in which a 
‘cybertopian’ narrative of a disintermediated and thus democratized film 
culture quickly gives way to a reality in which content is more tightly 
controlled by an increasingly narrow and powerful set of private 
stakeholders, ultimately threatening the preservation of any content 
that is vulnerable to the shifting demands of the market.

* ‘The big brother we appreciate’ or a ‘mafioso’? The emergence of 
stereotypes concerning China and the Chinese in Angola*
Authors: Jaroslaw Jura And Kaja Kaluzynska And Paulo De Carvalho

This article aims to analyse the process of emergence of China-related 
stereotypes in Angola, which have started to appear with an increasing 
number of Angolans establishing direct and non-direct contacts with the 
Chinese. The article investigates this issue based on the content of 
China-related articles and netizens’ opinions published online from 2010 
to 2015 in Angolan media (altogether 5005 cases) supplemented with coded 
results of 61 in-depth interviews. The results of qualitative and 
quantitative analysis suggest that the general image of the Chinese held 
by Angolans is rather positive. However, the influx of Chinese migrants 
into this country and a relatively high number of problematic situations 
involving members of the Chinese diaspora have resulted in gradual 
worsening of the image of this specific group. Such problematic issues 
include the low quality of engineering projects, maltreatment of Angolan 
workers and a possibility of Chinese neo-colonization of Angola.

*Discourses of power and counter-power in the Zimbabwean 
politico-religious communication in online news media*
Authors: Nyasha Mapuweyi And Janina Wozniak

Christianity as the predominant religion in Zimbabwe consists of several 
faith groupings, each of which responds to public events through the 
mass media. Mainline churches uphold a conventional human rights 
approach to faith-based political criticism, while Mapostori or 
Apostolic churches follow an Africanist form of faith and appear to 
condone some alignment with the authoritarian ruling party. In the 
sampled media coverage of three online newspapers, the political use of 
religious strategies or practices from various faith groups by the 
president and high-ranking party functionaries is reported from either 
the former government-sanctioned view or an oppositional stance. 
Moralist reprimand is levied at various politicians from a religious 
rationale, assuming good and evil, church and state, Christianity and 
African spirituality, which, however, remain abstract since there is no 
overall faith-based guidance for political behaviour beyond a secular 
constitution that still appears utopian. The critical discourse analysis 
suggests that complex relationships exist among the various faiths, 
causing diverse religious interpretations of political events. This 
suspension of Cartesian thinking results in a continuing circular logic 
of blame and prayer, disaster and prophesy instead of the use of 
constitutional democratic institutions to hold politicians accountable. 
Such logic seems sustained by politicized interpretations of spiritual 
entities, spiritual interpretations of political events and by the 
perceptions of the Zimbabwean public, who, as believers of one or other 
faith, is equally at the mercy of opportunistic ‘prophets’ from many 
denominations as it is targeted by the political powers of the day.

*ISolezwe’s coverage of the May 2008 xenophobic riots: An irresolute 
start and an ambivalent end*
Authors: Simphiwe Ngwane

Each language has a multiplicity of registers and the media rely on 
these ‘differentiators’ to convey news to designated audiences, who will 
imbibe the news with the intended meaning. IsiZulu is one of South 
Africa’s Lingua francas and has two successful news publications, iLanga 
and iSolezwe, both written in isiZulu but vastly different in how they 
convey, craft and package news. This article aims to examine how 
iSolezwe, an isiZulu-language tabloid, used two editorials to shape its 
stance on the May 2008 xenophobic riots. Through the editorials 
agenda-setting execution, we are able to analyse the tabloids ideology; 
even when the news reports, and photo-journalistic pieces offered 
‘impartially full’ accounts, but, metaphors stray from headline to 
headline, photographs that are meaningless in themselves become 
significant when juxtaposed to a piece of text (Fowler 1991: 225). Anton 
Harber in examining the xenophobic coverage in the print media asked the 
question, ‘what is it we want from our media at a time of ugly 
anti-social violence?’ (2008: 161). ISolezwe’s coverage began with 
ambivalence, exhibiting sympathy towards the frustrated South African 
perpetrators, but was shocked at the level of violence. The news reports 
were more ‘balanced’ in their coverage, without assuming a position in 
contrast to the editorials. Examining the entire coverage, a theme is 
evident, from ambivalent editorials, to news reports that were more 
balanced. The second editorial dovetailed from the then president of the 
African National Congress (ANC) Jacob Zuma’s condemnation of the 
violence but the tabloid did not condemn the xenophobic riots outright, 
and its reporting ends with a repatriation theme and the tabloid never 
explored notions of integration.

*The story of a cultural seed sown in Addis Ababa: The Ethiopian 
International Film Festival (ETHIOFFEST)*
Authors: Yirgashewa Teshome

This visual essay is the story of the Ethiopian International Film 
Festival (ETHIOFFEST); Addis Ababa’s cultural scene founded a decade ago 
to create the desire and vision of what a film festival can mean to the 
future of the creative community in Ethiopia. It is the story of how the 
ETHIOFFEST, in a country where the concept has never been known, became 
an annual cultural event pitched against all odds. The visual essay 
overviews a decade-long journey of the festival from its inception to 
date that mainly focuses on its establishment and challenges, as well as 
contributions to film culture in and about Ethiopia. This could be a 
primary resource for those who are interested in Ethiopian film activity 
as it is presented by the founding director of the festival.

*Film Review*
Authors: Ernest Samuel And Gloria Chimeziem

Stephanie Linus’s ‘Dry’: A case of humanities in medical education or a 
foray into medical humanities?


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