Browsing by Subject "media studies"
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- ItemOpen AccessCell phones in social transformation in Africa: insights from ongoing research in some African countries(2012) Nyamnjoh, FrancisCell phones have proved to be as accommodating as they are accommodated by those who embrace them. They shape their users as much as they are tamed by their users. For anyone interested in gaining a wider perspective on the situatedness of mobiles in African contexts, the social appropriation of technology and new configurations of marginality.
- ItemOpen AccessCollaborative filmmaking: lessons learned from the Cissie Gool house film project(2022) Nisenson, Ann; Valley, Dylan-Wade; Maasdorp, LianiFrom 2019 until 2021, I directed and produced a twenty-two-minute film about a housing occupation in Cape Town, South Africa. Setting out on this project, I had several concerns. One, the ethics of being an outsider filmmaker making a film about a community from which I'm neither from, nor to which I belong. Two, I did not want to contribute to a long-practiced, Western documentary tradition of making images of people in need of saving. Although I'm neither the first nor last to raise these dilemmas in documentary filmmaking, I was interested in making the film ethically by drawing on a set of practices and ideas from participatory and collaborative filmmaking. In the making of this film I was also influenced by my own values and political commitments. This paper will first examine what the ‘participatory' term means – both the origins and development of the term and its varied significance – and then situate the Cissie Gool House project within this mode of representation and reflect on the filmmaking process.
- ItemOpen AccessFilm festivals in Africa: a study in sustainability(2022) Utian-Preston, Lara; Rijsdijk, Ian-MalcolmThe sustainable future of film festivals in Africa is a vital issue based on the critical role that film festivals play in African filmmaking, and yet has not been widely investigated. This thesis identifies four key factors that I argue are essential to this sustainable future. These factors are: community and identity, the various mechanisms by which a festival's selfdefined identity or brand is developed and expressed; physicality and place, the concept of the lived and physical spatial nature of film festivals; technology, how innovations in technology are having an impact on film festivals; and financing and funding, the ability of film festivals to attract funding and finance. Each of these factors is discussed from both a theoretical perspective that draws on the history of film festivals as well as relevant areas of scholarship. Additionally, this thesis draws upon my years of professional experience working with film festivals in Africa. Through this auto-ethnographic approach I am able to complement the theoretical analysis of each of these factors with real-world examples and applications. This investigation makes it clear that the trajectory of African film festivals is distinctly different to those in the West, mainly due to localised factors such as the lack of cinema infrastructure and accessible internet connectivity, but also due to the existence of a global film festival hierarchical network, within which film festivals in Africa sit near the bottom. It is also apparent from this analysis that to become sustainable film festivals in Africa must effectively leverage these four factors through authentic claims to community and identity, accessible physical spaces, adaptation and inclusion of technology and disruption, and a diversity of funding models.
- ItemOpen AccessStealing Empire: P2P, intellectual property and hip-hop subversion(2010) Haupt, AdamStealing Empire poses the question, ""What possibilities for agency exist in the age of corporate globalisation?"" Using the work of Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt as a point of entry, Adam Haupt delves into varied terrain to locate answers in this ground-breaking inquiry. He explores arguments about copyright via peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms such as Napster, free speech struggles, debates about access to information and open content licenses, and develops a politically incisive analysis of counter discourses produced by South African hip-hop artists. Stealing Empire is vital reading for law, media and cultural studies scholars who want to make sense of the ways in which legal and communication strategies are employed to secure hegemony.
- ItemOpen AccessThe internet, political mobilisation and civic engagement in Zimbabwe from 2015 to 2020: investigating the role of Twitter(2022) Pindayi, Brian; Wasserman, HermanusThis study sought to determine how Twitter affected political mobilisation and civic engagement in Zimbabwe from 2015 to 2020. Zimbabwe's competitive authoritarian regime has over the years restricted access to mainstream media platforms, leaving members of the opposition and most civic organisations with no recourse but to resort to social media platforms such as Twitter for purposes of political mobilisation and civic engagement. The research questions were: How did Zimbabwean political actors, namely ZANU-PF, MDC formations, Build Zimbabwe, National People's Party, Independent candidates and ordinary citizens use Twitter for political engagement from 2015 to 2020? To what extent has Twitter influenced political mobilisation in Zimbabwe from 2015 to 2020? What examples are there of successful civic engagement through Twitter in Zimbabwe from 2015 to 2020? A thematic analysis of tweets from political parties that contested the 2018 elections, politicians, civic organisations and private citizens was carried out. Eight themes were identified, four measuring political mobilisation and four measuring civic engagement. For political mobilisation the themes were, engaging ZANU-PF, engaging MDC Alliance, sanctions, and corruption. For civic engagement the themes were focusing on humanitarian aid or causes, personal exchanges, provocative or gaslighting tweets, and human rights or legal issues. Findings indicate that Twitter, has several affordances that result in socio-political influences. Twitter empowers opposition parties and citizens in Zimbabwe. It constitutes a collaborative space on which different political parties pursue common objectives. The accumulation of information and conversations makes Twitter a historical database with verification capabilities. Furthermore, as Zimbabweans have been using Twitter to connect with specific issues and online communities, it has served as an endorsement and/or verification platform. The multiplicity of voices and opinions have made Twitter a marketplace of ideas. By enabling certain individuals or issues to gain prominence, Twitter has become a snowball amplifier of events and issues. Twitter creates boundless, extended or international communities as political actors and citizens across international boundaries have centralised or focused debates. Several opposition politicians, civic organisations and citizens have relied on Twitter to spread information and influence mainstream media channels in what exemplifies a phenomenal ‘Twitter effect'. The political persecution, lawfare and suspension of Twitter accounts has demonstrated how Twitter can be an ephemeral, mutating and transient platform. These metaphoric categories all demonstrate how Twitter serves as an alternative public sphere in Zimbabwe, a potent forum for subaltern counter publics.