11:00 - 12:30
Room: Physics – Seminar Room
Stream: Media and Politics in Africa
Chair/s:
Tom Odhiambo
Whose language, whose radio and whose nation? Radio broadcasting in Kalanga language in post-colonial Zimbabwe, 1980-2017.
Thembani Dube
Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch

Radio has often been referred to as the “voice of the people” as it is the dominant, cheapest and most direct media through which the majority of Africans, including Zimbabweans, have access to information and are also able to express their views. This paper analyses the historical trajectory of Radio broadcasting in Kalanga language in post-colonial Zimbabwe, exploring the motives for its establishment and the role of Kalanga Cultural Promotion Society in lobbying for the recognition of Kalanga language in Radio broadcasting. It argues that the introduction of Kalanga was facilitated by the post-independence state’s exclusionist policies, which preferred radio broadcasting in two indigenous languages, Shona and IsiNdebele. The paper engages with the roles of various actors – the Cultural Entrepreneurs, government, radio presenters and listeners. Moreover, it illustrates that the continued dominance of Shona and Ndebele languages in radio actually served to crystallise ethnic consciousness amongst the so-called minority groups.


Reference:
We-A29 Media and Politics 1-P-003
Presenter/s:
Thembani Dube
Presentation type:
Panel
Room:
Physics – Seminar Room
Chair/s:
Tom Odhiambo
Date:
Wednesday, 12 September
Time:
11:30 - 11:45
Session times:
11:00 - 12:30