Francis Nyamnjoh: Changing Communication Dynamics in Africa

About Francis Nyamnjoh

Francis B. Nyamnjoh is Professor of anthropology at the University of Cape Town in South Africa
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Changing Communication Dynamics in Africa

Francis B. Nyamnjoh
Originally published in Media Development, 2005/4

African people are often bitter about the fact that the cultures and worldviews of others have coloured their own outlooks and, in certain cases, claimed centre stage in their lives. This makes it difficult to articulate what people consider their authentic cultural values with the freedom and confidence they would like to enjoy. The following article identifies a certain nostalgia for a real or mythical golden age prior to the unequal encounters with cultural others that have reduced people to playing second fiddle even in matters of utmost concern to themselves and their communities.

In tune with this nostalgia, it is increasingly commonplace for Africans disillusioned with the disjuncture between availability and affordability in the global consumer culture to return to afro-centricity, to recreate that golden age when Africa was purportedly pure and its sociality uncontaminated by the merchants of sterile desire.