Conference jointly organised by the
Africa Media Series, Arab Media Centre and Audiences Group
Communication and Media Research Institute (CAMRI), University of Westminster
Dates: 30-31 March, 2009
Venue: University of Westminster, New Cavendish Campus, 115 New Cavendish Street, London W1
The Topic:
Media research to date has largely neglected the fast growing and diverse media audiences in African and Arab countries. These countries share painful histories of colonization and broadly comparable experiences of post-independence media development. Today they share the challenge of adjusting to global trade and investment regimes that affect local media production and distribution systems but are crafted elsewhere. Yet when we speak of media reception in the Global South, we tend to think in terms of isolated geographies: of ‘Latin America‘, ‘Africa‘, or the ‘Middle East‘. By contextualizing primarily in terms of place, we overlook memories, issues and features that media users in different regions have in common. We foster artificial boundaries and separate research agendas. As a result, opportunities for productive joint debates about Arab and African media consumption are missed.
Blogs, chatrooms, social networking sites, and the use of SMS indicate that African and Arab audiences, like audiences generally, are highly active in sending and receiving messages in innovative ways. This conference, organised by the University of Westminster’s Communication and Media Research Institute (CAMRI), will explore this activity, taking in the old, the new, and processes of change and transformation. It draws on the combined resources of CAMRI’s African Media Series, Arab Media Centre and Audiences Group. It focuses on media use and media users in two overlapping regions, where the culture and politics of former colonial powers have combined with internal influences to shape the audience experience in particular ways.
For more information on the pogramme and registration, go to: http://www.wmin.ac.uk/mad/page-1660
