Abstract
The call to decolonize journalism education has been sounded for quite a while. In the call, both scholars located in the academe in the global South and North have expressed a yearning for journalism education to move away from being primarily focused on Western-centric curricula, practices, and models.
The reader Decolonising journalism education in South Africa: Critical perspectives, another invaluable entry in the decolonial turn in the field of journalism and media studies, focuses on South Africa as its sight of study. The book assembles a medley of keen scholars in the decolonial debate inclusive of former journalists. The various chapters cover themes such as journalism ethics, language in South African media, African newspaper intellectual tradition, and a decolonial analysis of cyberbullying of South African women journalists.
One of the most prominent theorists in decoloniality discourse and theory, Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni, is a pragmatic inclusion in the volume. His task for the book is to outline the lay of landscape of decolonization in the opening chapter, “On the meaning of decolonisation.” He traces the genealogy of decolonization, its analytical frames, intellectual trajectories, and decolonial pedagogy. The chapter provides an apt foundation to foreground the rest of the discussions throughout the book. Ndlovu’s overview is valuable for the reader keen to understand the concept of decoloniality. This, to make sense as well as not to make “nonsense” of the concept when one chooses to invoke it. Moreover, as he himself admits in the chapter, that decolonization is one of the most misunderstood movements of the 21st century.
The ensuing chapter from Phillip Santos and Admire Mare, titled “The decolonial problematic in journalism ethics,” focuses on the debate the decolonization of journalism ethics in the African context. The discussion notes how journalism ethics has been thought of in terms of universalistic values and asks whether such a framework caters for the experiences of those located in the global South. Considering the African context, the authors ponder what journalism ethical framework could be adopted for African journalists. They advocate for a cosmopolitan journalism ethics, which is informed by local and global value systems, as a plausible consideration.
In another reflective chapter, Bevelyn Dube ponders the complexity of redefining and decolonizing journalism curricula in South Africa. Before the democratic era of 1994, the journalism curricula were fashioned along Western lines more so to align with the colonial and Apartheid agenda. For Dube, in the African context, the decolonization of journalism curricula should place Africa at the center. However, the curriculum should not only reflect the inputs of academics but must invite the media industry and students as well in a consultative process. The change of curriculum, in turn, must take the queue from knowledge repositories emanating from research efforts.
The chapter authored by Chasi and Rodny-Gumede suggests the need for revolutionary epistemes emanating from African communication and media studies that can reshape humanities toward the decolonial research agenda.
A key lesson that can be gleaned from several chapters, which serve to dispel any misconstrues of the perspective, is that decoloniality does not represent a knee-jerk rejection of Western knowledge. Arguments that North and South knowledges can be integrated and may co-exist such as when there is a need to consider global contexts amid local realities. For instance, Santos and Mare, in their chapter, assert that epistemologies from the South and North may be fused into a hybrid set of ethical frameworks for journalism.
The book, while covering various chapters focusing on South Africa, also entails Afro-wide inputs. This makes it a worthwhile read for the African scholar and student keen to gain insights on the decolonial perspective that hinges on communication and media studies. Those who are also contemplating in constructing decolonial curricula in media studies would benefit from the book’s forethoughts regarding pedagogy, theory, research, and journalism practices that promise to evolve from the perspective.
The authors of the reader are urged to consider another follow-up volume. In their second contribution, they could delve into some case studies on how the decolonial curricula have been applied, as well as pedagogic practices, including lessons learnt thereof, in various places of learning in South Africa. Understandably, this thrust on case notes could not be unraveled in the current volume as the decolonial re-curriculation effort in media studies and other disciplines is still unfolding in South African universities. Yet still, the volume under review may serve to prompt other authors who ply their scholarly trade in decolonial communication and media studies to consider making follow-up studies on some of the book’s themes.
The book should find appeal for both undergraduate and graduate students and scholars keen to gain insights into the decolonial advent within media and communication studies and particularly critical orientations of journalism education. As a conceptual primer, it could be considered enriching conceptual discussions, especially from the global South, on the key considerations for taking the decolonial turn in journalism education. With the book also containing some case studies in which decolonial analysis is invoked, the reader might also gain some insight into the possibilities of decolonial analysis applied in specific media events. Schools of journalism, particularly those located in the Global South and in African contexts, will gain insights into local contexts given the African case studies advocated. However, in the global North, there has been appetite of interest in the decolonial perspective as well as long-standing interests on African issues among the various centers of African studies that can be found in various Western locales. This volume is also useful for the African-oriented centers keen on following developments on African media studies.