Building an Agenda for Media and Communication Research in Africa

Abstract

This article lays down a number of points that need to be reflected upon in building a research agenda for media and communication research in Africa. It resurrects some old questions about the identity of the field. It is argued that scholars contemplating the agenda for researching the media in Africa need to re-examine some of the global and historical currents that gave the field its present shape. Drawing attention to the ideas of scholars who have proposed substantive lines of research for the agenda envisaged, this discussion adds another dimension to those ideas by spotlighting the nature, shapers and motivations of the research agenda as well as the pertinent issues