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Western images of China
by Candace Gawler
Professor Colin Mackerras, an expert on China from Griffith University in Australia, recently presented a seminar entitled 'Western images of China since the 1990s' at the School of Journalism and Media studies.
Professor Mackerras argued that Western images of China have been "unnecessarily negative" and that the Beijing massacre on 4 June 1989 played a significant role in shaping these images.
Professor Mackerras, who has been regularly visiting China since 1965, feels that China is a country with great culture, a strong economy and nice people although many believe that it is a "rather nasty and fearsome state with many human rights abuses". He does believe that China is concerned about the well-being of the majority even if there are individuals who suffer as a result. Professor Mackerras argued that Western images are not all nonsense; however they do present a very critical view of China. He further added that although the Chinese economy boosts the country's image, there is a clash with Western democratic ideologies and China’s apparent disregard for these.
Interesting discussions arose with regards to Africa's perception of China.
China in a global context
Professor Herman Wasserman, Deputy Head of the School of Journalism and Media Studies, recently attended a conference in Ningbo, China, on the theme 'China in a global context'.
Professor Wasserman presented a paper entitled 'China in South Africa: the media's response to a developing relationship', which explored the way in which South African media reported on China's growing involvement in South Africa.
The conference included papers by leading international scholars like Dan Hallin (University of California, San Diego), Paolo Mancini (University of Perugia, Italy) and Colin Sparks (Westminster University, UK).
Click here to read Professor Wasserman's paper.
JMS hosts Danish professor
Professor Poul Nielsen, from the Department of Information and Media Studies at the University of Aarhus in Denmark, visited the School recently.
Professor Nielsen has been appointed as Director of the newly established Centre for Glocal Media Studies. He met with JMS academics to discuss future collaborations between the Centre and the Research Unit for Media in the Global South – located in the School.
Professor Nielsen will also present a research seminar on Media in Post-Communist Mongolia – Challenges and Opportunities in the Democratisation Process and guest lecture to second-year JMS students.
For the past 11 years, Professor Nielsen has worked within the field of media and democratisation in post-communist countries, documenting the interrelation between media and political, social and cultural change.
Picture: (L) Professor Poul Nielsen and (R) Professor Herman Wasserman, Deputy Head: Rhodes University, School of Journalism and Media Studies.
Alette Schoon is researching how mobile phones are integrated into the lives of young adults living in a 'mixed race' township area in a rural town. THe research is for her MA degree, and follows the domestication approach to explore how phones adopt a township lifestyle, and so help their owners navigate the challenges of everyday life. She focuses on the meaning of instant messaging application Mxit and gossip site Outoilet for these young adults and links this to local notions of mobility, space, everyday life and respectability in the township.
Rod Amner submitted his thesis in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts at Rhodes University earlier this year: "Deliberating the Dialogues: a critical examination of the nature and purpose of a Daily Dispatch public journalism project." The thesis critically examines a series of town-hall-like meetings, the Community Dialogues, hosted by the Daily Dispatch in the townships and suburbs of East London in 2009. The thesis found that apart from their undoubted success in generating a more comprehensive and representative news agenda for the newspaper, the Dialogues sometimes fell short of Habermas's proceduralist-discursive notion of the 'deliberating public', which sees citizens share a commitment to engage in common deliberation and public problem solving.
Anthea Garman has had two chapters accepted for publication for the first ever book of critical essays in English on the work of journalist-author-poet Antjie Krog. The book is edited by Andries Visagie (Unisa) and Judith Lütge Coullie (UKZN). In “Antjie Krog and the accumulation of media meta-capital” Garman explores Krog's complex and multi-faceted relationship with the news media since she became a published poet at the age of 17. Arguing that over the years Krog has acquired “media meta-capital”, Garman says this has given her a unique voice and speaking platform in post-apartheid South Africa when few white voices, and especially Afrikaner ones, get a hearing. In “Antjie Krog the journalist: Running with the Jackals”, Garman investigates how Krog brought the unique features of poetry writing into her TRC journalism and how this both landed her in hot water with other journalists and resulted in great acclaim for her book Country of My Skull.
A new book on popular media in Africa, edited by Prof Herman Wasserman, has just been published. The collection, Popular Media, Democracy and Development in Africa, forms part of Routledge’s series Internationalizing Media Studies. It draws on diverse case studies from various regions of the African continent to examine the role that popular media could play to encourage political debate, provide information for development on the continent, but also critiques the very definitions of ‘democracy’ and ‘development’ in this context.
This is prof Wasserman’s second book on popular media to be published this year. His monograph Tabloid Journalism in South Africa: True Story! appeared with Indiana University Press/UCT Press in May.
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