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The ambition of this article is twofold and consists of an attempt to outline a problematic bias of research attention and interpretation, discernible in the field of studies that address the appropriation and usage of new media and networked communication technologies, as unfolding in Africa. Thus, I voice my concerns in respect to scholarly attempts, quantitative and qualitative in nature, to define those who are left behind at the bottom of the digital/ media pyramid, in narrow deterministic terms. Based on qualitative interviews from fieldwork in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya I suggest a methodological–analytical approach to overcome this blind spot of attention and understanding, by show-casing a different strategy of data generation and interpretative reading. The article draws attention on the media practices and routines that are contextually embedded in the lifeworld concerns and pragmatic decisions of individuals located at the excluded end of the continuum of communication ecologies in Kenya. My in-depth presentation and discussion of two protagonists from rural Ziwa ward seeks to challenge commonplace characterisations of the causes and consequences of restricted digital/media repertoires. This includes a rejection of techno-centric, normative claims that define digital inclusion in narrow terms and the excluded as human impediments to democratic transition and development. Instead, I put forward a situated understanding of digital/media repertoires that while realised under constrained conditions, nonetheless allow people to address their lifeworld concerns. Concerns, here understood 'as activities that matter to people' (Helle-Valle, J. (2019). Advocating causal analyses of media and social change by way of social mechanisms. Journal of African Media Studies, 11(2), 143– 161. https://doi.org/10.1386/jams.11.2.143_1), in consequence affecting digital/media practices and vice versa. ; The ambition of this article is twofold and consists of an attempt to outline a problematic bias of research attention ...

This book identifies the strengths and weaknesses of different methodological approaches to research in communication and social change. It examines the methodological opportunities and challenges occasioned by rapid technological affordances and society-wide transformations. This study provides grounded insights on these issues from a broad range of proficient academics and experienced practitioners. Overall, the different contributions address four key themes: a critical evaluation of different ethnographic approaches in researching communication for/and social change; a critical appraisal of visual methodologies and theatre for development research; a methodological appraisal of different participatory approaches to researching social change; and a critical examination of underlying assumptions of knowledge production within the dominant strands of methodological approaches to researching social change. In addressing these issues through a critical reflection of the methodological decisions and implications of their research projects, the contributors in this book offer perspectives that are highly relevant for students, researchers and practitioners within the broad field of communication for/and social change

This book identifies the strengths and weaknesses of different methodological approaches to research in communication and social change. It examines the methodological opportunities and challenges occasioned by rapid technological affordances and society-wide transformations. This study provides grounded insights on these issues from a broad range of proficient academics and experienced practitioners. Overall, the different contributions address four key themes: a critical evaluation of different ethnographic approaches in researching communication for/and social change; a critical appraisal of visual methodologies and theatre for development research; a methodological appraisal of different participatory approaches to researching social change; and a critical examination of underlying assumptions of knowledge production within the dominant strands of methodological approaches to researching social change. In addressing these issues through a critical reflection of the methodological decisions and implications of their research projects, the contributors in this book offer perspectives that are highly relevant for students, researchers and practitioners within the broad field of communication for/and social change.

This is a book chapter. ; Speaking Up and Talking Back? Media, Empowerment and Civic Engagement among East and Southern African Youth. This is the title we have given to the book. The fundamental aim is to question if and how citizens in Africa engage with media and communication technologies and platforms in their pursuit to be included in the change processes of their societies. The theme echoes some of the claims made by disenchanted and frustrated youth and other citizens in the streets of the North African cities of Tunis and Cairo in 2012. Severe critiques were articulated against the governance structures of their countries; mass social mobilisations were seen, governments fell, and in the aftermath, the slow process of deep change continued, now with one tyran less, but still with huge challenges in the social and economic development of these countries. Youth in particular engaged massively, visibly, loudly and dramatically around claims to be involved and included in their countries' development process. Our book taps into the less visible and dramatic, but nevertheless highly dynamic and influential process of media development and enlargement of youth-driven, deliberative spaces which sub-Saharan Africa seems currently to experience.

The article is focused thematically on the uses and meanings of media for (some) young people in Recife, a million-inhabitant city in the northeast of Brazil. The article brings together the perspective of Anne Line Dalsgaard, a long-term anthropological field researcher who is familiar with the everyday lives and social conditions for growing up in Recife, and the findings of a short-term, interview- and observation-based media ethnographic study, conducted by Norbert Wildermuth. The concept of imagination as potentially both an enabling and a limiting practice in the consumption of media is discussed centrally in this attempt to contribute to an empirically grounded understanding of the role that media play for youth in their striving to 'find a place in life'. In the empirical context presented in the article, imaginations, expanded and circulated by a globalized media circuit, are appropriated and interpreted locally and under particular socio-economic conditions.

This book is in closed access. ; The book questions whether and how young citizens in Africa engage with media and communications technologies and platforms in a desire to be included in the change processes of their societies. The theme echoes some of the claims made by disenchanted and frustrated youth and other citizens in the streets of North Africa's cities in 2011 and 2012. They were severely critical of the governance structures in their countries, mass social mobilizations took place, governments fell and, in the aftermath, the slow process of transition continued, now with one tyrant less but still with uncertain outcomes and huge challenges for the social and economic development of these countries. Youth in particular engaged massively, visibly, loudly and dramatically around demands to be involved and included in their countries' development processes. This yearbook taps into the less visible and dramatic, but nevertheless highly dramatic and influential process of media development and the enlargement of youth-driven, deliberative spaces which Sub-Saharan Africa is currently experiencing.