Uncategorized – Digital Media and Civic Engagement

Debut of augmented reality mural – October 23, 2018. The Hawk Newspaper

Pop Culture that Keeps Women Down – March 7 2010. Standard Media

What does it mean to shift the narrative?

March 1, 2021July 16, 2022 Lusike

Presented to Africa No Filter Fellows on 02.26.2021

I was invited to present along with other research mentors at the Africa No Filter Research Fellows workshop held in February 2021.

My presentation was titled: What does it mean to shift the narrative. In this presentation, I drew from the work i have been doing at the Africa Media Collaborative on rewriting African narratives. The Africa Media Collaborative seeks to challenge the prevailing dominant stories about Africa that are often framed by the global news media, films, TV shows, International humanitarian agencies, International charities and foundations, tourists, social media influencers, music and fashion magazines.

While acknowledging that the last few decades have witnessed a rise in counter narratives or competing narratives about Africa, the presentation was driven by the following question: Does the existence of counter narratives about Africa indicate a shift in the narrative?

I argued that there is need to deliberately and consistently work towards eliminating biased, stereotypical, negative dehumanizing stories about Africa and its peoples. The adoption of counter narratives and competing narratives does not indicate a shift in the narrative. It is not enough to counter, we need a shift in the narrative!

In my presentation, I highlighted the model developed by Africa Media Collaborative in shifting the narrative. In order to shift the narrative, the Africa Media Collaborative developed the following three steps:

a) Reframing

b) Disrupting

c) Occupying

During the presentation, I discussed the above model in detail. I will be posting more updates about the project soon. For more information check out Africa Media Collaborative

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Debunking those Stereotypes

March 7, 2018December 7, 2022 Lusike

I have on several occasions, come face to face with stereotypes about Africa, often enabled by global media’s commodification of images about Africa. Often, stories about Africa in the media are about a people who are at war and dying from hunger/famine and diseases such as HIV/Aids.

While Africa might be a continent struggling with challenges such as poverty, ethnic conflicts and HIV/Aids, that is not all there is to Africa. There is much more to Africa than the story of helplessness and plight. It is a continent full of love and laughter. Music and dance. Emerging innovations and technologies. A people who celebrate life and live it to the fullest. This is the Africa i know. A place that has undergone the ravages of slavery and colonialism, yet it is still filled with undeniable zest for life, love and passion.

And so for those involved in media production and dissemination, there is need for one to be cautious when they write stories about groups of people, particularly the Global South which is portrayed in a stereotypical way in the media.

One video that reminds me about how often people misconstrue Africa is a Ted Talk that was given by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The Danger of a Single Story. Chimamanda talks about how we often dehumanize people when we feel pity for people. We have a single story about them, and fail to recognize that despite their challenges of poverty , they have lived experiences.

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Education and Civic Engagement

March 7, 2018March 7, 2018 Lusike

The disparities in access to education all over the world are worrying. Education is crucial in empowering the future generations.

There is need for children to have a better education which offers them opportunities to information access and digital literacy in today’s world. However, access to Computers is not enough, there is need for digital literacy for young people to be able to access relevant information and not just access information on varied media platforms but also to be able to write their own stories using different media formats

However, it is important to reemphasize that: It will all start with access to education.

I came across the interesting video below on the UNESCO instagram page.

View this post on Instagram

One in five children, adolescents and youth are out of school! New figures on the number of children out of school worldwide reveal that despite decades of efforts to get every child into the classroom, progress has come to a standstill. According to data from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), about 263 million children, adolescents and youth worldwide – one in every five – are out school, a figure that has barely changed over the past five years. The UIS figures confirm that across sub-Saharan Africa one in every three children, adolescents and youth are out of school – with girls more likely to be excluded than boys. For every 100 boys of primary age out of school, there are 123 girls denied the right to education. #Education2030 #SDG4 #Education #UNESCO #EducationForAll #RightToEducation #SustainableDevelopment #SustainableDevelopmentGoals #EducationPower #SDGs #FundEducation #FundData

A post shared by UNESCO (@unesco) on Feb 28, 2018 at 12:24pm PST

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Citizen Journalism and democracy in Africa: New Questions in a New Era

November 3, 2014January 30, 2021 Lusike

The workshop was jointly organized by the University of Westminster and Moi University in collaboration with UK-Africa Media and Democracy Research Network.

The workshop was part of an on-going project on Media and Democracy in Africa, which was funded by the British Academy. It was held at the Sarova Stanley, Nairobi on 9^th May 2014.

See workshop program below:

workshop-program Download

UK Africa Media and Democracy Research Network, Uncategorized

Media and Elections Conference

April 10, 2014November 3, 2020 Lusike

DATE: March 29 2014

VENUE: University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, London

Africa Media Collaborative, UK Africa Media and Democracy Research Network, Uncategorized

Call for Papers: Media and Elections in Africa

February 1, 2014November 3, 2020 Lusike

Conference organised by the Africa Media Centre, University of Westminster and Moi University, Kenya in association with the UK-Africa Media and Democracy Research Network

Date: Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 March 2014

Venue: University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, London

Keynote Speaker

Professor Kwame Karikari, Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), a Ghana-based media advocacy organisation whose vision is for a sub-region in which the fundamental human rights of freedom of thought and expression are guaranteed; and in which free mass media serve to bring to fulfilment all the other universally subscribed rights and freedoms for all persons. The Foundation pursues its objectives through activities that encourage collaboration with organisations and individuals working for the promotion of Media Rights and Freedom of Expression. (http://www.mediafound.org/).

This is the second call for a conference on media and elections in Africa. Elections are essential for democracy and yet in much of Africa they have become mere rituals whose conduct and result are most predictable. Voter apathy is a concern due to persistent problems such as electoral fraud, voter suppression and the resultant poll violence and loss of lives. New measures and strategies have done little to change

the course of the crisis. African elites, election observers, scholars and journalists have raised questions about whether elections are really important for African democracy. Why do Africa’s friends in the West insist on elections while China continues to place less emphasis on them? Are elections a precondition for protecting civil liberties? From Egypt to South Africa, citizens have been treated as subjects and bystanders of the electoral processes, resulting in the coming to power of illegitimate regimes characterised by tyranny, corruption, nepotism, ethnic persecution and gross human rights violations. The media are meant to be the eyes and ears of the emerging democracies in Africa but evidence shows that they are biased, inefficient and under resourced to the extent of neglecting their educational and informative roles before, during and after elections. Far from being watchdogs, the media have become lap dogs that are routinely manipulated by greedy and corrupt politicians and businessman seeking public office.

There are serious questions about how elections have become hijacked by local and global forces that are inimical to African emancipation. Who benefits from the elections? Whose voice is represented? Who speaks on behalf of whom? What role have the media played in elections? Can the media rescue the electoral politics in Africa? What sort of media are needed? What kind of journalists are needed?

This conference seeks to debate issues of media and elections within the broader context of democratization in local and global contexts. Issues of, ideology, power and future of media and democracy in Africa are part of the focus. The conference welcomes contributions that will debate these issues from different theoretical and methodological orientations.

Approximately 40 papers will be presented on topics including:

• Media and Elections in Africa

• NGOs and Activist Media in Africa

• Protest Music, Theatre, Drama

• Political Party Media in Africa

• New Media and Elections in Africa

• Foreign Media and African Democracy

• Rural and Urban Citizenship in Africa

• Elections, Elites and the Media in Africa

• Human Rights and the Media

• Media Ownership and Access in Africa

• Media Freedom in Africa

• The ‘African’ Public Sphere

• Media Controls and Constraints in Africa

• Media, Civic Education and Constitution Making in Africa

Abstract Submission

The deadline for submission of abstracts is Friday 31 January 2014. Abstracts should not be more than 300 words long. They must include the title of the conference, presenter’s name, affiliation, email and postal address, together with the title of the paper. Please ensure when saving your abstract that your name is part of the file name. Please email your abstract to Helen Cohen, Events Administrator at: (journalism@westminster.ac.uk).

Program and Registration

This two day conference will take place on Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 March, 2014. The fee for registration (which applies to all participants, including presenters) will be £175, with a concessionary rate of £95 for students, to cover all conference documentation, refreshments lunches and administration costs. Registration will open in February 2014