Re-imagining the Ordinary: : on Perception, Power and the Media

on Perception, Power and the Media
Contributors
Siyasanga M Tyali
Abstract

ABSTRACT

This article gives account of an inaugural lecture and the conclusions drawn from the argument that formed the basis of the lecture. The focus of the lecture was on the concept of perception and the idea of power as per media institutions. The author divided the paper into three separate yet related sections: 1) his background and his introduction to the field of media practice and media research, 2) the focus of his research and how it speaks to the questions of perception, media and power and lastly, 3) the author draws some conclusions on the way forward about the area of under discussion. The central theory of the paper is that media institutions is that at best, media platforms can be said to encompass or exhibit “social power”. Thus, having an ability to play individuals, social relations between groups or institutions. 

Key words: media, perception, power, culture and radio

References
  1. Davis, SR., 2011. Voices from without: the African National Congress, its radio, its allies and exile, 1960-84, in Radio in Africa: publics, cultures, communities, edited by L Gunner, D Ligaga & D Moyo. Johannesburg: Wits University Press
  2. Downer, M. 1993. Clandestine radio in African revolutionary movements: a study of the Eritrean struggle for self-determination. Journal of Communication Inquiry 17: 2.
  3. Gevisser, M., 2007. The dream deferred: Thabo Mbeki. Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball
  4. Lekgoathi, SP. 2009. You are listening to Radio Lebowa of the South African Broadcasting Corporation: vernacular radio, Bantustan identity, and listenership, 1960-1994. Journal of Southern African Studies 35(3):575-594.
  5. Mandela, N (1994) Long Walk to Freedom. Macdonald Purnell, South Africa
  6. Nixon, R. 2015. Selling apartheid: South Africa’s global propaganda war. Johannesburg: Jacana Publishers.
  7. Grosfoguel, R., 2004. Race and ethnicity or racialised ethnicities? Identities within global coloniality. Ethnicities 4 (3): 315-336
  8. Riddle, C., 1994. This is Freedom Radio. RJR. Grahamstown: Rhodes University.
  9. Sanders, J. 2000. South Africa and the International Media 1972–1979: a struggle for representation.
  10. Portland, OR: Frank Cass Publishers.
  11. Tyali, SM (2021) ‘Grappling with anti-establishment broadcasting history: On political communication and the ANC’s anti-apartheid Radio Freedom’ (Essay) Imbiza Journal for African Writing, 1(1)
  12. Tyali, S.M & Mukhudwana, R.F (2020) ‘Discourses on political advertising in South Africa: a social media reception analysis’. In: Ndlela, M & Mano, W (eds) Social media and elections in Africa, Volume 2. Palgrave Macmillan
  13. Tyali, SM (2020) ‘Re-reading the propaganda and counter-propaganda history of South Africa: on African National Congress’s (ANC) anti-apartheid Radio Freedom’. Critical Arts: South-North Cultural and Media Studies, 34(4)
  14. Tyali, S.M (2017) ‘Public perceptions of the media as a political actor in South Africa: regarding the Mail & Guardian’. Journal of African Media Studies 9(3): 547-562
  15. Tyali, S.M & Tomaselli, K.G (2015) ‘Assessing ‘beneficiary’ communities’ participation in HIV/AIDS communication through community radio: XK FM as a case study’. Communicare: Journal for Communication Sciences in Southern Africa 34(2): 1-18
  16. Tuck, E and Yang, K.W. 2012. Decolonisation is not a metaphor. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 1(1): 1-40.
  17. Torres-Maldonado, N. 2007. On the coloniality of being: contributions to the development of the concept. Cultural studies 21(2-3): 240-270