Essay 4- Danielle Tibbetts- The Oral Tradition of Africa and HIV education

            Globalization and the modern marvel of mass media communication methods, and  technologies of the 21^st century have become the supposed ?Clark Kent a.k.a. Superman? savior of developing countries around the world, especially in Sub Sahara Africa and their battle against the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Waisbord and Morris explained this attitude, ?Optimists believe that cross-border technologies open up new possibilities for more people around the world to have better and faster access to more information? (2001, p. viii).Yet, recent research has emphasized the weakness of these marvels in developing countries because of the incomparable differences between the Western societies, in which these communication methods and technologies are developed and tested in, and the underdeveloped countries they are then applied to; which repeatedly do not bring about equivalent results. As Mushengyezi stated in his research, ?Modern mass media?have remained largely inaccessible to the majority of Ugandan (as well as other Sub Saharan areas) communities not just because of the low literacy level, but also because of the lack of hardware, software and supporting infrastructure of computer-accessed communication?these media can not be seen as essential to communication in predominately rural societies? (2003, p.108). Because of the technology and educational gap that remains in many parts of Africa, the extensive amount of information and preventative help towards the HIV pandemic through ICT?s (Information and Communication Technology) is unsuccessful, because the areas and populations they are  imposed upon can not receive them. This problem of failing ?Western? ideologies in Sub-Sahara Africa provides proof for the question Appadurai asked, ?What sets of communicative genres are valued in what ways and what sorts of pragmatic genre conventions govern the collective ?readings??the vary relationship of reading to hearing and seeing may vary in important ways that determine the morphology of these different national and transnational contexts? (1990, p.300). Therefore, recent studies have focused on anti-global, highly local forms of communication practices, traditionally found in Sub Sahara Africa, to spread knowledge and preventative measures concerning HIV/AIDS through the custom of Folk Media.

            As Panford et al. explained, Folk Media is, ?any form of endogenous communication system?serving as a channel for messages?that require the utilization of values, symbols, institutions, and ethos? of that particular culture (2001, p.1560). Folk media of Sub Sahara Africa include storytelling, puppetry, proverbs, visual art, drama, role-play, concerts, gong beating, dirges, songs, drumming and dancing. As you  read traditional communication practices of this area are not based on reading and writing, like traditional ?western? cultures, but on listening, speaking and seeing, which have fostered a much more visual-audio receptive society (Mushengyezi, 2003, p.107, Panford et al., 2001, p.1559). Modern African researchers believe the combination of these locally- created forms of media communication, with modern messages of HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention, could have a stronger effect on the rural populations of Africa; who use these forms of communication daily to deliver other ideas and messages.

            Radio has become a chosen source of dispersal for many of these newly opted folk media incorporating plans. In many African countries radio is accessible and affordable, and many rural inhabitants rely on it for their information receiving. Local stations have begun incorporating HIV information/ awareness/prevention ideas into their programs through story-telling, drama, poetry recitals and proverbs. This collaboration also facilitates interaction between listeners and hosts, through the audience calling in and giving their opinions and stories (Panford et al., 2001, p.1561). Because the rural populations have grown up with these types of communication practices they immediately see them as more trustworthy, and could possibly be more prone to integrate messages of AIDS prevention and knowledge into their lives. Again, Mushengyezi eloquently explained, ?In the quest for globalization, the way forward in the new millennium should consist not so much in an aggressive quest to provide modern media to people as in harnessing and modernizing, ?traditional? forms of communication as viable tools for development? (2003, p.108). This is an example of how counter-western forms of communication media seem to be more effective in areas than the believed ?rehabilitating forms? of modern global media outlets.

Cites

1: Appadurai, Arjun. (1990). Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Economy. Public Culture 2 (2): 1-24.

2:Mushengyezi, Aaron. (2003). Rethinking indigenous media: rituals, ?talking? drums and orality as forms of public communication in Uganda. Journal of African Cultural Studies. Vol 16, 1: 107-117.

3: Panford, Solomon et al. (2001). Using Folk Media in HIV/AIDS prevention in rural Ghana. American Journal of Public Health. Vol. 91, 10: 1559-1562.

4: Waisbord, Silvio, and Morris, Nancy (2001). Introduction: Rethinking media globalization and state power. In Silvio Waisbord and Nancy Morris (editors), Media and Globalization: Why the State Matters. Lanham, MD; Boulder, CO; New York, NY ; and Oxford, UK: Rowman and Littlefield. Pp. vii-xvi.

Posted at 06:11AM Jun 15, 2007 by TIBBETTS, DANIELLE in General  |  Comments[2]