Reappraising indigenous African communication systems in the twenty-first century: New uses for ancient media

Advancements in communication technology appear to have combined with other factors to stifle research in Indigenous African Communication Systems (IACS). While the mass media and the new media are powerful communication systems that are arguably meeting most of contemporary society’s communication and information needs, there is an important segment of the developing world’s population that these media do not seem to carry along: the rural people. In Africa, rural people rarely have access to mainstream communication systems and their exposure to them is highly limited by several issues. However, they tend to attach much significance to their indigenous communication systems, indicating that the systems are still relevant today and are, therefore, worthy of being researched. This article examines the relationship between rural people and IACS. It investigates the use of these modes of communication in the mobilization of rural people for development projects. Through a study of two rural communities in south-east Nigeria, the article demonstrates why rural Africans have continued to rely on IACS and contends that these communication systems are not being idealized as they are still meeting the information needs of many.