Communication barriers within virtual communities in an ethnoreligious diverse society: a case study of Nigeria
- Authors: Ogunnubi ,Adeyemi
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Communication
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/15859 , vital:40533
- Description: The study explores the communication barriers that exist within virtual communities in an ethno-religious diverse society like Nigeria. Qualitative research approach was employed. Subsequently, data was collected using qualitative questionnaire that contained open ended questions and through participant observation (online ethnography). Purposive sampling was used to select participants through liaising with Facebook users, as one of the online virtual communities in Nigeria. Having monitored online discourse on Facebook for some months, this study purposively selected 300 active facebook users from various Nigerian cultural and ethnic backgrounds, but only 60 participants indicated their interest to participate. Also, out of the 60 participants who agreed to participate, only 30 participants (25 males and 5 females) fully participated to the final stage while the other 30 withdrew from the study. The participants were mainly adults between the age brackets of 20 and 59. Thematic Analysis was subsequently used to analyse the data by identifying main themes to provide detailed descriptions of the setting, participants as well as activities. The findings of this study revealed that majority of the participants agree that due to Facebook familiarity and Nigeria's religious colouration, there is a display of disrespect, insolence and deep arrogance to other interactants online. The study further identified and revealed other barriers such as differences in cultural backgrounds and opinions, lack of politeness, prejudging and filtering, name calling and insults. The study proposes that social media platforms as virtual communities should be regulated with full implementation of the law and its sustenance, regardless of individuals having power to make their own choices about the kind of languages they use within virtual communities and considering its effect on other online users. Vulgar languages, hate speeches, incitements, bullying and other offensive comments would hopefully be curbed to the barest minimum if this intervention could be implemented. The conclusion of the study was that Nigerians should be civil in responding to discourse in virtual communities as certain inflammatory, religious or utterances based on ethnicity due to an uninformed perspective usually display one's poor knowledge on issues of national interests
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- Date Issued: 2019
Local web news as tools for framing food security: the content analysis of four selected Eastern Cape web newspapers
- Authors: Metula , Nolukhanyo Theorida
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Food security World Wide Web
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/17484 , vital:41080
- Description: This study evaluates how the Eastern Cape local web newspapers frame food security in the Eastern Cape Province. A qualitative content analysis by means of textual analysis was used to evaluate the selected local web newspaper’s content on food security related stories within the period of July-December 2017. The sample was drawn from four Eastern Cape local web newspapers- Daily Dispatch Live, Herald Live, Go and Express and The Talk of the Town. The analysis sought to determine how the selected local web newspapers frame food security concerning food availability, accessibility and affordability in the Eastern Cape Province. Additionally, the study aimed to ascertain the issues about food security that are raised by the Eastern Cape local web newspapers and, to establish the extent to which these Eastern Cape local web newspapers’ framing is helpful in ensuring participation, empowerment and community mobilization for food securing purposes. The results of this study indicate that the local web newspapers frame Eastern Cape Province as untapped food basket. The framing suggests that the Province can leverage its agricultural resources for job creation which will ensure economic growth and food security. The local web newspapers framing suggests that there are numerous channels such as natural food production, livestock production, smallholder farming that can enhance availability and access to affordable food to people in the Eastern Cape Province. The findings revealed that local web newspapers frame increased agricultural production as an important issue that demand serious and urgent attention of the Provincial government as it has the potential of not only ensuring food security but also impacting positively on the income of local farmers. The local web newspapers frame farm attacks, land redistribution and reinstatement as important factors that hinder food production and, ultimately, food security in the Eastern Cape v Province. Furthermore, this study discovered that the frame of references used by the local web newspapers, especially the emphasis on local farming, land redistribution and private sector help to empower and mobilize individuals and communities to participate in food security initiatives. This study concludes that Eastern Cape Local Web Newspapers can be veritable tools to enhance food security channels in the Eastern Cape Province
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- Date Issued: 2019
Reflection and representation: modes of communicating Zimbabwean historical narratives through popular music
- Authors: Gwindingwe, Gift
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Communication Interpersonal communication
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/15804 , vital:40528
- Description: Music, before and after independence in the former colonies, has been playing a central role of articulating national concerns. It became an alternative medium through which historical narratives were channeled out to the public. While many scholars have acknowledged the critical role of music’s attempt to whip the autocratic governments into line, and the attempts by the governments across the world to thwart the critical/activism role of music, little emphasis was put on the mechanism of circumventing censorship, the linguistic competence (or lack of it) of music in conscientising the public on national issues. This thesis aims to harness this seemingly entertainment tool (music) into serious academic discourse by looking at the way power relations and ideological contestations are symbolically reflected, represented and communicated in popular culture, in particular the Zimbabwean Sungura and Chimurenga music. It makes a critical analysis of the diction of music as it attempts (or fails to) reflect and represent the Zimbabwean historical narratives from the early 1990s to 2008. The study tries to (semiologically) fracture the musical lexicon and the ideological stance on which it is based to show the extent to which music communicates by way of reflecting and representing the Zimbabwean historical narratives. The thesis looks at how popular music has ‘become the most prominent signifier’ and at ‘the shifting meanings and the significance of … music’ (Nooshin 2005:231) in Zimbabwe. It utilises a qualitative research approach specifically an interpretive prism. Key research methods for the study include in-depth semi-structured interviews which were conducted with purposively selected informants such as university academics and two of the selected musicians. The selected academics were purposively sampled basing on the researcher’s knowledge of their inclination towards Cultural Studies, particularly popular culture. The study has managed to bring clarity to the research questions in a big way considering the application of the various theories that framed the thesis discussion. Research findings indicate that interpretive semiotics aids to unpack the philosophy of meaning making through song. Music as a medium has the reflective effect of a mirror and a photographic effect of a camera to enunciate the ideological innuendo in the leader-led dichotomy. The study shows that protest popular music rejects knowledge that affirms the status quo; it is counter hegemonic and seeks to regenerate selfhoods and self-liberation amongst the subaltern class.
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- Date Issued: 2019