Afrokology and the Right to Communicate in Africa

Abstract

This article argues for a reconstruction of communication rights theories from an African episteme and experience. It reviews the impact of key national, continental and international legal instruments as they pertain to communication rights in Africa, with a specific focus on South Africa and Zimbabwe. Using an Afrokological heuristic tool, it critically evaluates how the key legal instruments underpinning the right to communicate are developed and encountered in lived experience in decolonising Southern African contexts. We argue that an Afrokological orientation built on epistemological interconnectedness and conviviality may lead to insights otherwise not accessible. It can help awaken a new relational accountability that promotes respectful representation, reciprocity, and rights in communication policy processes in line with the lived experiences of those it is meant to benefit.

KEYWORDS:

• right to communicate
• media democracy
• freedom of expression
• Afrokology
• public service broadcasting
• decolonisation

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

viola c. milton

viola c. milton (corresponding author) is Professor of Media Studies in the Department of Communication Science at the University of South Africa, Pretoria. Email: [email protected]

Winston Mano

Winston Mano is Reader in the Westminster School of Media and Communication and Director of the Africa Media Centre at the University of Westminster. Mano is also a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. Email: [email protected]