Radio edutainment and participatory communication for social change: A case of lived reality among a rural Malawian audience | Intellect Skip to content
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Deadly Serious: Pandemic Humour, Media and Critical Perspectives
  • ISSN: 2040-199X
  • E-ISSN: 1751-7974

Abstract

This article draws upon research exploring a project that combines edutainment and participatory communication strategies as an approach to social change in Malawi. Throughout the research, I take a critical stance that seeks to uplift voices of an audience attending a radio listening club (RLC) and therefore utilize participatory methods to co-create the body of knowledge with study participants. In this article, I query RLC audience’s thoughts of the project’s relevance and influence in their daily lives. Oriented by Hall’s concepts of encoding and decoding, I analyse my data focusing on the dynamics between the objectives of the producers and the lived reality of the participants. Findings reveal that audience’s motivation for continued attendance of the RLC is different to that intended in the encoding process; rather audiences negotiate the relevance of messages to their own needs, those of their children and utilize the space to extend their social capital.

Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • Ph.D. Fellowship: Gender, Education, Media and Development in Southern Africa – at OsloMet
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2022-06-01
2024-05-03
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