An exploration of poststructuralist discursive critique and its implication for a critical analysis of the discourse on pornography

This study explores the implications of the post-structuralist discursive theories for a new approach to the study of communication. Drawing on the theories of discourse developed by Foucault and Bourdieu, the study suggests a theoretical framework for a critical analysis of discursive practices. The framework is applied to the analysis of the discourse on pornography in South Africa. The application of the theoretical framework illustrates the utility of such a framework as a method for analysis and critique of discourse and provides insights into the controversy about pornography. The implication of the discursive theories for the study of communication are explored.Communication ScienceM.A. (Communication

Fanon's perspective on intercultural communication in postcolonial South Africa

This article develops a Fanonian perspective to understand intercultural communication in postcolonial South Africa. Apartheid’s demise is communicated as a moral victory over evil and South African whites are persuaded to confess their past immorality. This article argues that moral interpretation is inappropriate and the demise of apartheid must be evaluated as a political power game. Furthermore, it explicates Fanon’s rejection of moral evaluations and his conception of the violent dialectic of colonisation and decolonisation and applies this framework to analyse intercultural communication in the postcolony. Fanon’s Hegelian violent dialectic of master and slave constructs human identities and provides the prototype for intercultural communication. Fanon’s political realism also explains the mass African migration from the postcolonial necropolis to the promised good life in the land of their former European masters. African leaders promote the migration as a rightful revenge for colonisation and the migrants are represented as warriors on a crusade to conquer the lands of former colonisers inspired by communication of memories of their glorious past colonial wars: from Hannibal’s invasion of Rome to the Muslim’s conquest of Spain

Factors affecting participatory communication for development: the case of a local development organization in Ethiopia

The research set out to explore the major factors affecting the practice of participatory communication (PC) in development processes using the development and aid works experiences of a leading local NGO in Amhara National Regional State (ANRS) called Organization for Rehabilitation and Development in Amhara (ORDA) as a case study. This qualitative case study used in-depth interview, Focus Group Discussion (FGD), and document analysis and field observation for data collection. The study was framed based on the participatory model of development which has been assumed to bring about sustainable socio-economic change of a country. The research reveals the presence of several factors affecting the practice of participatory development communication in ORDA. The factors could be divided into three sub themes which include the individual, the institutional and the environmental factors. Because of such pressing factors participatory communication is marginalized and genuine participation is the missing link in the development process. To avert such trends, the paper calls for professionalism for the development communication, structural change of the organization and holistic approach of development for successful development endeavors

Communication is war by other means: a new perspective on war and communication in the thought of twentieth century selected communication scholars

The September 11, 2001 Jihadists attack on the West and the subsequent wars on terrorism indicate that war may be a permanent condition of life in the contemporary world. This implies that to understand contemporary society, culture and communication requires an understanding of war because war could perhaps provide a perspective through which to understand the world. The aim of this study is to provide such a perspective and to critically explore the link between war and communication. However, in approaching a study of war one is confronted with a pervasive pacifist anti-war ideological bias. To overcome the bias the study adopts a critical strategy: firstly it deconstructs the taken for granted assumptions about the positive value of peace and then it reconstructs and traces the contours of a Western tradition of philosophical thought that considers war as being an integral and formative aspect of human identity and communication. Chapter 2 uncovers the limitations of the pacifists' discourse on war. Chapter 3 traces the Western tradition originating in Heraclitus that considers war as formative experience of being human. Chapter 4 traces war and killing as formative of language and communication. Using these insights a careful reading and interpretation of how war informs the thought and functions in the texts of selected social theorists of the twentieth century. Chapter 5 traces war as an agonistic structure in the works of Johan Huizinga on the role of play and in the political theory of Carl Schmitt. Chapter 6 explores the idea of war as a model of society in the works of Foucault. Chapter 7 investigates the central influence of real and imagined war on Marshall McLuhan’s theory of the media. Chapter 8 explores the way war structures the thought of Lyotard on the postmodern condition. Chapter 9 concludes by drawing implications on how a perspective on war contributes to development of communication theory and understanding life in the postmodern condition.Communication ScienceD. Litt. et Phil. (Communication