Archive for 2024

[Previous message][Next message][Back to index]

[Commlist] cfp: Climate Change Communication in Africa: Key Issues, Practices, and Insights

Mon Jan 29 23:05:45 GMT 2024






*Climate Change Communication in Africa: **Key Issues, Practices, and Insights*

**

**

*Call for Book Chapters *

**

*Editors*

*Tendai Chari**(PhD), *Associate Professor, Department of Media Studies, University of Venda, South Africa

*Allen Munoriyarwa (PhD), *Senior Lecturer, Department of Media Studies, University of Botswana, Botswana; Senior Research Associate, Department of Communication and Media, University of Johannesburg.

Climate change is one of the most urgent and all-encompassing challenges confronting humanity and the environment in the 21^st century. In public discourse, climate change has emerged rather forcefully as global rise in temperatures, ocean pollution increase, and once-stable glaciers melt beyond expectations. Climate change has become part of the quotidian discourse at the centre of any global debates, from hunger, famine, war, droughts, sustainable development, etc. Despite these recent developments, climate change remains relatively the least understood phenomenon in the global South, particularly in Africa. Despite Africa being the least responsible for emitting greenhouse gases[1] <#_ftn1> attributable for global warming, it is the most vulnerable continent to climate change due to multilayered historical, social, economic, and geo-political factors (BBC World Service Trust, 2009). Consequently, the continent hopes to lead in the carbon credit market by 2030[2] <#_ftn2>. Home to some of the poorest populations of the world who already live on the frontlines of disasters and degradation of natural resources, Africa is disproportionately affected by climate change and the continent’s ability to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is in jeopardy (Tadese, 2010). Due to low resilience in impoverished communities on the continent, climate change has exacerbated existing socio-economic challenges such as poverty, hunger, inequalities, natural disasters, conflicts, political instability, human and security challenges linked to declining biodiversity, increased demographic pressures on agricultural and grazing land and other natural resources.

The threat posed by climate change to the African continent is not commensurate with the quality and quantity of information generated about climate change and the level of citizen awareness or understanding of this complex and multifaceted phenomenon (Tagbo, 2010). Citizens on the African continent are among the least informed about the causes of climate change and its consequences, and the ideological and geo-political contestations around climate change, thereby limiting the capacity of African nations to respond and adapt to climate change and the ability of the most affected communities to communicate their perspectives and experiences to those responsible for causing climate change (BBC World Service, 2009). Effective and appropriate communication has been identified as an essential step towards creating an enabling environment and understanding of the dynamics of climate change, societal adaptation and responses to climate change, particularly in bridging of the gap between the climate change science and action, raising awareness and understanding of the issue, and influencing behavioural change (McGahey & Lumosi, 2018).  In Africa, climate change presents unique challenges to communicators because of the “complex convergence of scientific, practitioners and traditional knowledge systems” (McGahey & Lumosi, 2018: 87).

While climate change has received considerable scholarly attention in the industrialised democracies of the West (Bell, 1994; Henderson-Sellers, 1998; Antilla, 2005; Boykkoff & Boykoff 2007; Sampei & Aogyi-Usui, 2009) very few studies exist in Africa (Tagbo, 2010; Sithole, 2023 Evans et al 2018.). Within the global context, criticism abounds about the way in which climate change is debated and communicated in the mainstream media with a litany of criticisms ranging from structural and professional factors which limit mainstream media’s effectiveness in communicating climate change (Sampei & Aogyi-Usui, 2009; Bokkoff & Boykoff 2007), personalization, dramatization and novelty which result in “information deficiency” on the subject of climate change (Boykoff & Boykoff, 2004: 1191). Henderson-Sellers (1998) notes that climate change reporting is characterized by misinformation, misrepresentation, misreporting, distortions, overstatements in news headlines, misquotation, misattribution, inflation, falsification, over-assertion, all of which impose communication barriers in meaningful and accurate reporting and understanding of climate science, thus undermining scientific consensus about climate change.

Further criticism of the mainstream media’s reportage of climate change revolves around allegations of sensationalism, fearmongering or “alarmist reporting” – what Ereut & Segnit refer to as “climate porn” (cited Boykoff & Boykoff, 2007:3). Through dramatization of climate change mainstream media tend to emphasize crisis over continuity, “the present over the past or future conflicts”, and downplaying complex policy information, the workings of government and the bases of power behind central characters” (Boykoff & Boykoff, 2007: 3). Extant literature on climate change communication tends to focus on media coverage of the climate change crisis in Africa (Tagbo, 2010; Sithole, 2023; BBC World Service Trust, 2009, Cramer, 2008; Evans & Musvipwa, 2016; Evans et al 2018). Challenges of communicating climate change in Africa are not only abound, but also unique, ranging from underreporting of climate change stories in the media due to lack interest in climate change stories by journalists who are intimidated by the scientific jargon, episodic reporting of climate change whereby reportage tends to be concentrated around climate change events such as conferences and disasters (the so-called ‘disaster journalism’), the tendency to treat climate change as a beat instead of incorporating it in other beats as climate change intersects with various issues such as economics, health, politics, food security, agriculture etc., over-reliance by African media on foreign news agencies, resulting in lack of local angles or contextualization of climate change. Further limitations of climate change communication in Africa include marginalization of indigenous communication knowledge systems because of coloniality, reliance on experts, government and civil society organisations and other stakeholders who might have their own interests, and lack of journalists who are trained in science communication.  However, very few studies have explored climate change communication in Africa from diverse theoretical and methodological perspectives. As a result, understanding of climate change communication and its potential to influence climate change adaptation, behavioural change, action, and policy is very minimal.

The proposed edited volume, key issues, practices, trends, controversies, and challenges linked to communicating climate change both in the mainstream and alternative media in the African context. Our central claims in this book are twofold. Firstly, climate change can only be understood if the media effectively and responsibly inform and educate citizens about climate change. Secondly, the quality of climate change information in the media is very much linked to the degree of attention given to climate change issues in the media, and the quality of information about climate change possessed by those tasked with reporting climate change. The aim of this edited volume is to enhance understanding of the climate change-communication nexus by drawing lessons from different regions of the African continent. In this regard, we, therefore, seek to interrogate the key issues, debates, and practices around the climate change communication discourse in Africa. We are looking for original and innovative contributions which critically engage with and reveal the unique African experiences in climate change communication using a broad range of theoretical and methodological approaches. The abstract must clearly state the objectives of the study, theoretical framework(s), and methodologies deployed in the study.

*POSSIBLE TOPICS*

Contributions could focus on, but not limited to the following topics:

  * Media framing of climate change in Africa
  * News sourcing patterns in climate change reporting
  * News values in climate change communication
  * Pitfalls in climate change communication
  * Community media and climate change in Africa
  * Climate change and disaster journalism in Africa
  * Foreign new agencies and climate change communication in Africa
  * Philanthropy journalism and climate change communication.
  * Climate change journalism activism
  * Mobile technology and climate change activism
  * Indigenous African media and climate change
  * Digital media activism and climate change
  * Decoloniality, coloniality and climate change communication
  * Role of the arts in climate change in Africa
  * Climate change in film and theatre
  * Music and climate change awareness in Africa
  * Sonification and climate change in Africa
  * Cartoons and climate change in Africa
  * Visual representation of climate change in Africa
  * Photography, climate change and sustainability
  * Datafication and climate change communication
  * Artificial Intelligence (AI) and climate change communication
  * Ethical issues in climate change reporting
  * ‘NGOfication’ of climate change communication
  * Misinformation and Disinformation in Climate Change communication
  * Fact-Checking and Climate Change Communication
*Abstracts and biographies*

Abstracts should be between 300 and 400 words and should be emailed as

Word files to (tendai.chari /at/ univen.ac.za) <mailto:(tendai.chari /at/ univen.ac.za)>

(Andmunoriyarwaa /at/ ub.ac.bw) <mailto:(munoriyarwaa /at/ ub.ac.bw)>

Biographies should be between 150 and 200 words.

*Length of Articles*

Articles should not be more than 7000 words including references.

Reference Style: Harvard

*Important Dates*

Deadline for Accepting Abstracts:  15 March 2024

Notification for Accepted Abstracts: 30 March  2024

Deadline for Full Papers: 31  July  2024

Expected Date of Publication: 31 December 2024

*Targeted Publisher: Routledge/Taylor & Francis*

**

**

**

**

**

**

**

**

**

**

**

**

**

*References*

Bell, A. (1994). Climate of Opinion: Public and Media Discourse on global warming. /Discourse & Society/, 5(1)33-64.

Antilla, L. (2005) Climate of sceptiscism: US Newspaper Coverage of the science of climate change: /Global Environmental Change/, 15(1): 338-352.

Tagbo, E. (2010). Media Coverage of Climate Change in Africa: A Case Study of Nigeria and South Africa. Reuters Institute Fellowship Paper, University of Oxford. Retrieved from https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/research/files/Media%2520Coverage%2520of%2520Climate%2520Change%2520in%2520Africa%2520A%2520Case%2520Study%2520of%2520Nigeria%2520and%2520South%2520Africa.pdf <https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/research/files/Media%2520Coverage%2520of%2520Climate%2520Change%2520in%2520Africa%2520A%2520Case%2520Study%2520of%2520Nigeria%2520and%2520South%2520Africa.pdf>. Accessed 30 December 2023.

Cramer, C.M. (2008) The Framing of Climate Change in Three Daily Newspapers in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Unpublished MPhil Dissertation, Department of Journalism, Stellenbosch University.

Evans, H.C Dyll, L and Teer-Tomaselli, R. (2018). Communicating Climate Change. In Leal Filno, W., Manolas, E., Anzal, A.M., Azeitero, U., and McGhie, H. (eds.) Handbook of Climate Change Communication. Heidelberg: Springer International.

Tadesse, D., (2010) The Impact of Climate Change in Africa. Pretoria: Institute for Security Studies.

Sampei, Y. and Aoyagi-Usui, M. (2009) Mass-Media Coverage, its influence on public awareness of climate change issues and its implications for Japan’s national campaign to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Global Environment Change. 19(2) 2013-212.

Mosser, S.C. and Dilling, L. (2012) Communicating Climate Change: Closing the Science- Action Gap. In Richard, B. Norgaard and David Scholsberg (eds.) Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society, 161-174. Oxford; Oxford University Press.

Henderson-Sellers, A. (1998) Climate Whispers: Media Communication about Climate Change. Climate Change 40: 421-456.

Boykoff, M.T. and Boykoff, J.M. (2004) Balance as Bias: Global Warming and the US prestige Press. Global Environment Change, 14: 125-136.

Boykoff, M.T. and Boykoff, J.M. (2007) Climate Change and Journalistic Norms: A Case of US Mass-Media Coverage. Geoforum 38: 1190-1204.

Evans, H.C, and Musvipwa, K. (2016). News Media Coverage of Climate Change: Perspectives from South Africa and Zimbabwe. Pretoria: Africa Institute of South Africa.

BBC World Service Trust (2009) Least Responsible, most affected, least informed: Public Understanding of Climate Change. Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/research-for-development-outputs/least-responsible-most-affected-least-informed-public-understanding-of-climate-change-in-africa-policy-briefing-no-3 <https://www.gov.uk/research-for-development-outputs/least-responsible-most-affected-least-informed-public-understanding-of-climate-change-in-africa-policy-briefing-no-3>. Accessed 31 December 2023.

*_Biodata_*

*Tendai Chari*is an Associate Professor of Media Studies and a National Research Foundation (NRF) C3 Rated Researcher at the University of Venda, South Africa. He holds a PhD in Media Studies from the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa. Previously he lectured at several universities in Africa, including the University of Zimbabwe, (where he was Head of the Media Programme in the English Department.

*Allen Munoriyarwa*is Allen Munoriyarwa is a Senior Lecturer in the department of Media Studies at the University of Botswana. He is also a non-resident Senior Research Associate in the Department of Communication and Media at the University of Johannesburg. His research interests are in contemporary/digital media and journalism. He holds a PhD in Journalism from the University of Johannesburg.


------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1] <#_ftnref1> The statistics are available here: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1268395/production-based-co2-emissions-in-africa-by-country/ <https://www.statista.com/statistics/1268395/production-based-co2-emissions-in-africa-by-country/>.

[2] <#_ftnref2> See the story here: https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/land-use-biodiversity/africa-hopes-starring-role-if-carbon-offsets-market-can-overcome-credibility-2023-10-02/ <https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/land-use-biodiversity/africa-hopes-starring-role-if-carbon-offsets-market-can-overcome-credibility-2023-10-02/>.

---------------
The COMMLIST
---------------
This mailing list is a free service offered by Nico Carpentier. Please use it responsibly and wisely.
--
To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit http://commlist.org/
--
Before sending a posting request, please always read the guidelines at http://commlist.org/
--
To contact the mailing list manager:
Email: (nico.carpentier /at/ commlist.org)
URL: http://nicocarpentier.net
---------------




[Previous message][Next message][Back to index]