[ecrea] International Conference on Community Media

The Department of Communication and Language Arts, University of Ibadan,
Nigeria; the Institute for Media and Society (IMS), Lagos, Nigeria; the
African Languages Technology Initiative (ALT-I), Ibadan, Nigeria; and the
Nigerian Community Radio Coalition jointly invite you to an international
conference to commemorate the 75th Birthday Anniversary of Prof Alfred
Opubor, first Nigerian professor of Mass Communication.
THEME: “IF COMMUNITY MEDIA IS THE ANSWER, WHAT IS THE QUESTION?”
Those were the words of the first Nigerian Professor of Mass Communication,
Professor Alfred Opubor, and the title of one of his most discussed articles
Though that question was raised in 2000 in a book published by UNESCO, the
issues that gave rise to it are still as urgent and improperly understood as
they were then. The recent political events in the MENA (Middle East and
North Africa) region, the recent historic civilian-to-civilian transition in
Zambia, the seemingly unending failure of the big media to significantly
bring about participation and access; the recourse to neoliberal policies by
African ‘democracies’ and the impact of that on the big media; are some of
the issues that necessitate a thorough re-examination of that decade-old
witticism. If community media is the answer, what indeed is the question?
And how is it being answered? Are there more questions than there were? What
are they?
SUB-THEMES: Paper abstracts and proposals for project demonstrations are
welcome on the following subthemes:
·         Community Media and new media technologies
·         Community media, policy and regulation
·         Community media, social media and social protest
·         Community media and empowerment/development: actual stories and
potentials
·         Community media and the management of conflict
·         Community media, community/civic engagement and democracy
·         Research approaches in (and to) community media
·         Community media and gender
·         Community media and popular culture
·         Community media and diasporas

DATE: 27-29 March, 2012
VENUE: Conference Centre, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
TIMELINES:
Deadline for submission of abstracts = Nov 30, 2011
Notification of writers of successful abstracts = Dec 20, 2011
Deadline for submission of full paper = Feb 20, 2012

FEES: heavily subsidised to cover conference materials, lunches and teas.
Academics: N5,000
International participants: $50
Graduate Students: N1,500

Undergraduate Students: Free

Abstracts or proposals for project demonstration should not exceed 300
words. Abstracts should be sent to both: (opuborconference /at/ yahoo.com) and
(comlangarts /at/ gmail.com)
For more information on venues, hotel accommodation, presenters and lead
speakers, timetables etc, visit: http://alfredopubor.org
You can access the book in which Prof Opubor’s Chapter (If community media
is the answer...) was published here:
http://www.unesco.org/webworld/publications/community_media/index.html

Ayobami Ojebode, Ph.D
Chairman, Local Organising Committee.


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