Decolonising Media and Communication Studies Education in Sub-Saharan Africa

The book provides insights on decolonising media and communication studies education from diverse African scholars at different stages of their careers. These academics, located on the continent and in the diaspora, share an interest in decolonising higher education broadly and media and communication studies teaching and learning in particular. Although many African countries gained flag independence from different European colonial powers between the 1950s and the 1970s, this book argues that former colonies remain ensnared in a colonial power matrix. Many African universities did not jettison ways of teaching and learning established during colonialism, and even those journalism, communication, and media studies training programmes which were established after the attainment of flag independence did not place decolonial agendas at the front and centre when setting them up. Starting with big picture thematic questions around decolonisation, the book goes on to consider what the implications of change would be for students and instructors, before reflecting on how far it is possible to decolonise curricula and syllabi and what this might look like in practice across a range of subject areas and country contexts. Overall, this book presents a nuanced picture of what a decolonised media and communication studies education could look like in sub-Saharan Africa. This book is essential for researchers in Africa in disciplines such as media and communication studies, journalism, film studies, cultural studies, and higher education studies. More broadly, the concepts and ideas on decolonising teaching and learning discussed in the book are relevant to instructors in any discipline who are interested in doing the decolonial work of contesting coloniality.

Table of Contents:
PART I: BIG PICTURE CONSIDERATIONS: DECOLONISING MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION STUDIES EDUCATION IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA 1: Connecting the dots: decolonising communication and media studies teaching and learning in sub-Saharan Africa 2: Towards centring African languages in media and communication courses in postsecondary institutions in Africa PART II: RETHINKING CLASSROOMS: IMPLICATIONS FOR STUDENTS, INSTRUCTORS, AND INSTRUCTION 3: Decolonising and reimagining instructor-student relationships in a communication and media studies fourth-level seminar 4: De-Westernisation and de-sacralisation as imperatives for the decolonisation of cinema teaching in sub-Saharan Africa 5: Decolonising from the margins to the centre: Ghanaian communication classrooms in perspective PART III: REFLECTIONS ON CURRICULA AND SYLLABI: POSSIBILITIES AND IMPOSSIBILITIES 6: Reflections on a decolonised communication and media studies curriculum 7: Towards a decolonised human, university, and curriculum: Some critical notes 8: “An-Other” centred film curricula: decolonising film studies in Africa 9: Decolonising the curricula and the space in Africa: an interdisciplinary approach 10: Should curricula be the same? Toward media studies curriculum reforms in Kenya 11: Decolonisation deferred? An analysis of the Education 5.0 Doctrine, the Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education approved media and communication curriculum and selected writings by Zimbabwean media academics 12: Proposals for a decolonised course outline for a theories and methods course in communication and media studies 13: Reformatting and decolonising postsecondary educational priorities in South Africa in view of COVID-19 PART IV: BEYOND CLASSROOMS 14: African journalists at crossroads: examining the impact of China, US, and the UK’s short-journalism training programme offered to African journalists 15: Ekoaɗo: an African approach to decolonising communication research and practice