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[Commlist] Journal of African Media Studies 10.3 published
Mon Jan 14 12:50:48 GMT 2019
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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