The African Association for Rhetoric

in collaboration with

the Department of English Studies, UNISA

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10th Anniversary International Conference on the theme:

Media, Rhetoric and Development in Africa

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Date: 3 – 5 July, 2017

Venue: Manhattan Hotel, Pretoria

www.manhattanhotel.co.za

 

Call for Papers

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For several decades, the media has played significant roles not only in the entrenchment of democracy in Africa, but also in contributing to social development and popular education. While existing media formats have presented themselves in forms of Newspapers, Radio, and Television, the emergence of the digital media – a platform upon which the social media revolves – has given credence to the influential powers of the Mass Media globally, making the fourth estate a co-determinant of the progress of political practice in countries where democracy has been embraced. On the one hand, African presses have tried reasonably to report African issues objectively in a way that an authentic African picture is painted, disseminating information that encourages critical citizenship and commitment to sustainable development. On the other hand, newspapers across the continent have enjoyed affiliations with political leaderships in their respective countries. As such, they have served as instrumental communication tools that represent the interests of their respective proprietors. The story is not different in contemporary times, whereas the major media houses have legitimate relationships with certain prominent politicians whose roles in the democratisation process are influential. In South Africa, media censorship and information control have become crucial news items recently. The complex intersection of rhetoric, media and development in Africa crave serious multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary intervention to advance and promote ongoing debates around transformative democratic practices in Africa.

This conference hopes to treat in detail the relationships between the role of the media and media practitioners in African Leadership and Development, as well as discuss ways in which rhetorical communication, writing and composition, literature and ethics can in help promoting democracy, literacy and sustainable development in the continent.

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Submissions should address but not be limited to the sub-themes listed below:

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Sub Themes

1. Rhetoric, Media and Politics: Ownership and Control

2. Political Communication, transparency and ethics

3. Development Communication and the challenges of infrastructural development.

4. Africa’s image and attendant Public Relations Management

5. Transformational Rhetoric, Media and Development in Africa

6. Rhetoric in the era of major epidemics: HIV/AIDS, Ebola, LASA e.t.c

7. The effect of African Film making on the perception of Africa 

8. Writing Corruption: African Journalists and the reportage of Anti-corruption in African states

 

Special Panels

1. Writing, Composition and Pedagogical Practices

2. Institutional Support for Rhetorical Projects on the Continent

3. Rhetoric and the Decolonisation of Africa

4. Promoting Postgraduate Studies in Rhetoric and Composition Studies in Africa

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Roundtable: The Prospect of Rhetoric in Africa

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The African Association for Rhetoric conferences are interdisciplinary, and as such welcomes papers from different academic and professional backgrounds. Contributions are strongly welcome from directly relevant specialisations such as media and communication, humanities and social sciences, to sciences and other human endeavours.

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Deadline for submissions: 25 March, 2017

Please send your abstracts (250 words) to: RHETORIC2017@unisa.ac.za

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