Compiled by Elva Nziza, for AJENda and Afromedia.network.
We present a short selection of publications of interest to the African communications and media studies research community.
Editors: Viola C. Milton and Winston Mano
This important new volume brings together critical reflections from leading scholars in African media and communication studies, offering deep insights through a biographical lens. African Media and Communication: Foundational Conversations explores the development of key ideas, theories, and models that have shaped the field, centring African perspectives that are often overlooked in mainstream academic discourse. Through life story interviews, the editors trace the intellectual journeys of foundational thinkers, highlighting the significance of their work within African contexts and on the global stage. The book emphasises the collaborative and institutional dynamics that have driven the field forward. An essential resource for scholars, students, and practitioners interested in media and communication in Africa and the Global South.
Editors: Nelson Costa Ribeiro and Barbie Zelizer
This timely collection reasserts the importance of propaganda—a foundational concept in media and communication studies – within the current debates around disinformation, misinformation, and fake news. Through a series of globally diverse case studies spanning both democratic and authoritarian regimes, it demonstrates that these modern terms fail to capture the full historical continuity of strategic efforts to manipulate public opinion. Only by understanding the propagandistic roots of such practices can we fully grasp how deception and falsehood are wielded in today’s media environments. A must-read for scholars and students interested in media, political communication, power, disinformation, and media studies.
Editors: Tijen Tunalı and Josepha Ivanka Wessels
This powerful new volume explores how art has become a form of resistance in the face of resurgent authoritarianism across Southwest Asia and North Africa. Art Against Authoritarianism in Southwest Asia and North Africa offers a timely and in-depth analysis of artistic activism in countries such as Sudan, Iran, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon, Yemen, and Syria, following the 2011 uprisings. Through street art, cinema, music, theatre, and performance, artists have expressed aesthetic resilience and created alternative spaces for resistance. The book investigates how political aesthetics operate both visibly and invisibly, shaping public discourse, reclaiming silenced identities, and forging transnational solidarities. This interdisciplinary collection critically engages with questions of visibility, ephemerality, public speech, and the innovation of new artistic and activist strategies. It is essential reading for scholars, artists, and anyone interested in the intersections of art, politics, and social change in the region.
Authors: Trust Matsilele and Trevor Hlungwani
This timely article explores the concept of “factional journalism” and media capture within South Africa’s post-democratic media landscape. Focusing on privately owned print media, the authors examine how political and economic interests shape news coverage, especially around the presidencies of Jacob Zuma and Cyril Ramaphosa. Drawing on interviews with political editors and journalists from Media24 and Independent Media, the study reveals how ownership structures and partisan allegiances influence editorial decisions. Framed within the political economy of the media, the findings confirm that journalists often face significant political and business pressure when reporting on political elites. The research highlights the ongoing relevance of political economy theory in explaining how media bias emerges, offering critical insight into the power dynamics shaping South African journalism today.
Editor: Dina Matar
This incisive anthology challenges Western-centric assumptions about politics and communication in the MENA region. Reframing Political Communication and Media Practices in the Middle East and North Africa highlights the vibrant diversity of grassroots, informal, and peripheral communicative forms, beyond elite-centred and institutional lenses. Through case studies spanning Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, Iraq, Syria, the Gulf, Turkey, and Iran, the collection critically examines how everyday political practices are mediated, often outside formal structures, while also acknowledging institutional power dynamics. By reframing political communication from the margins, this book offers fresh insights into how non-elite voices shape media and politics, a vital resource for scholars and students of political communication, media studies, and area studies.