Digital Communications at Crossroads in Africa: A Decolonial Approach - Hardcover

by Kehbuma Langmia (Editor), Agnes Lucy Lando (Editor)

Digital communication as it is practiced in Africa today is at a crossroad. This edited collection takes that crossroad as its starting point, as it both examines the complicated present and looks to the uncertain future of African communication systems. Contributing authors explore how western digital communication systems have proliferated in the African communication landscape, and argue that rich and long-cherished African forms of communal, in-person communication have been increasingly abandoned in favor of assimilation to western digital norms. As a result, future generations of Africans born on the continent and abroad may never recognize and appreciate African systems of communications.

Acknowledging that globalized digital communication systems are here to stay, the volume contends that in order to comprehend the past, present, and future of African communications, scholars need to decolonize their approach to teaching and consuming mediated and in-person communications on the African continent and abroad.

Back Jacket

"Once again the creative communication scholar, Kehbuma Langmia, has brought us a volume that expands the boundaries of the field of communication. This is sure to be a major force in the field."

--Molefi Kete Asante, Professor and Chair, Department of Africology, Temple University

"Africa has always been marginalized in history and other social sciences, until now. Here is a text that will open the minds of scholars and learners around the world about the origins of digital communication. I encourage everyone, especially media instructors, scholars, and students of digital media and global communication to read Digital Communications at Crossroads in Africa: A Decolonial Approach."

--(Prof.) Emmanuel K. Ngwainmbi, Volume Editor, Media in the Global Context: Applications and Interventions

Digital communication as it is practiced in Africa today is at a crossroad. This edited collection takes that crossroad as itsstarting point, as it both examines the complicated present and looks to the uncertain future of African communication systems. Contributing authors explore how western digital communication systems have proliferated in the African communication landscape, and argue that rich and long-cherished African forms of communal, in-person communication have been increasingly abandoned in favor of assimilation to western digital norms. As a result, future generations of Africans born on the continent and abroad may never recognize and appreciate African systems of communications.

Acknowledging that globalized digital communication systems are here to stay, the volume contends that in order to comprehend the past, present, and future of African communications, scholars need to decolonize their approach to teaching and consuming mediated and in-person communications on the African continent and abroad.

Dr. Kehbuma Langmia is a Fulbright Scholar and Professorand Chair in the Department of Strategic, Legal and Management Communication at Howard University, USA.

Dr. Agnes Lucy Lando is an Associate Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Daystar University, Kenya.

Author Biography

Kehbuma Langmia is a Fullbright Scholar/Professor and Chair in the Department of Strategic, Legal and Management Communication, School of Communications, Howard University, USA. Since earning his PhD in Mass Communications and Media Studies from Howard University in 2006, he has over 22 publications in the form of books, book chapters and research articles in prominent national and international journals.

Agnes Lucy Lando is Associate Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Daystar University, Kenya. She obtained her PhD in Social Communication from The Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, in 2008. In October 2016, Lando became the first African elected Board Member-at-Large of International Communication Association (ICA). Lando has publications in Communication Ethics, Higher Education in Africa, The Critical Role of Crisis Communication Plan in Corporations' Crises Preparedness, Communication Theory, Rumours on Social Media; and Kenya's subtle 2013 Post-Election Violence. She is 2013 George Gerbner Excellence Award recipient.

Contributors: Kajsa Hallberg Adu, Nordic Africa Institute, Sweden
Shamilla Amulega, Howard University, USA

M'Bawine Atintande, University of Ghana, Ghana

Laban P. Ayiro, Daystar University, Kenya

Abdul Karim Bangura, American University, USA
Mohamed Saliou Camara, Howard University, USA
Bala A. Musa, Azusa Pacific University, USA
Chuka Onwumechili, Howard University, USA