Mediating the nation-building agenda in public service broadcasting: convergence active user-generated content (AUGC) for television in Kenya
Date
2016
Authors
Ambala, Anthony Terah
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The
violence, destruction and
death
of
more
than
1
200
people
resulting
from
the
highly
disputed
2007
election
results
in
Kenya
was
a
considerable
watershed
moment.
It
exposed
the
deep
fragmentation
within
the
nation-‐state
and
became
a
significant
fissure
for
the
simmering
tensions
among
the
42
“tribes”
of
Kenya.
In
the
media-‐scape,
these
events
evinced
the
elitist
and
tribal
hegemony
in
media
ownership
and
revealed,
more
than
ever
before,
that
certain
voices
and
narratives
were
privileged
over
others.
These
events
also
unmasked
recurrent
motifs,
which
illuminated
the
stranglehold
that
the
political,
media
and
economic
elites
wielded
over
media
instruments
and
platforms,
for
their
own
benefit.
This
study
aims
to
explore
the
extent
to
which
active
user-‐generated
content
in
the
digital
media
space
can
intervene
in,
and
disrupt,
some
of
these
exclusionary
practices
in
the
public
service
mediascape,
to
potentially
inspire
a
re-‐imagination
in
this
space
for
nation
building
in
Kenya.
It
is
premised
on
a
participatory
action
research
approach
that
draws
on
theoretical
discourse
on
nationalism
and
nation
building,
as
this
is
the
field
from
which
the
study’s
key
problems
stem
and
where
conceptual
discourses
on
digital
media
converge.
The
study
also
draws
on
participatory
discourses
in
the
media,
as
these
potentially
present
an
emancipatory
platform
for
those
on
the
margins
of
the
hegemonic
centres.
Here
it
mainly
draws
on
Bhabha’s
cultural
difference
theory,
Billig’s
banal
nationalisms,
Jenkins’
ideas
on
convergence
culture,
Carpentier’s
thoughts
on
maximalist
media
participation
and
Thumim’s
assertions
on
self-‐representation
in
the
digital
space.
The
study
also
hinges
on
the
practice-‐informed
pilot
project
titled
Utaifa
Mashinani
Masimulizi
ya
Ukenya
(UMMU)
digital
narratives,
co-‐created
by
the
researcher
together
with
the
Abakuria
(the
Kuria
people)
of
Kenya.
This
is
a
community
marginally
represented
in
the
public
service
broadcasting-‐scape
in
Kenya
and
a
people
whose
narrative
discourse
is
seldom
present
in
the
public
sphere.
The
study
argues
that
broadcast
content
–
not
just
in
Kenya
but
also
in
Africa
–
on
User
Generated
Content
(UGC)
for
broadcasting
predominantly
focuses
on
passive
forms
of
UGC
rather
than
Active
User
Generated
Content
(AUGC)
-‐
a
term
coined
in
this
study
to
refer
to
user-‐generated
content
that
entails
a
more
meaningful,
emancipatory
and
empowering
form
of
participation
amongst
those
traditionally
referred
to
as
consumers
of
broadcast
content.
It
contends
that
although
many
contemporary
television
broadcasters
around
the
world
continue
to
create
a
perception
of
increasing
and
robust
audience
participation
in
televised
content,
in
Kenya
this
is
certainly
not
the
case.
It
argues
that
significant
forms
of
current
participation
on
television
are
illusionary,
minimalist
and
futile,
as
they
largely
entrench
television’s
balance
of
power
among
the
media
elites.
Ordinary
people
are
often
‘invited’
to
participate
in
broadcasting,
but
their
entry
point
into
these
narratives
tends
to
be
limited
to
accessing
already-‐completed
narratives
and
engaging
in
what
constitutes
token
participation,
with
minimal,
and
in
most
cases,
no
impact
on
the
story,
its
conception,
distribution
and
socio-‐ economic
benefits.
Drawing
on
insights
from
the
UMMU
project,
the
study
proposes
that
AUGC
can
potentially
disrupt
some
of
the
existing
tropes
and
motifs
in
the
Public
Service
Mediascape
opening
up
spaces
for
multiple
and
diverse
voices
and
narratives
in
Kenya.
This
potentially
enables
active
participation
from
constituencies
that
have
traditionally
been
on
the
margins
of
the
Kenyan
nation-‐state
to
partake
in
the
nation
building
process.
Description
A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, 2016
Keywords
Citation
Ambala, Anthony Terah (2017) Mediating the nation-building agenda in public service broadcasting: convergence active user-generated content (AUGC) for television in Kenya, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, <https://hdl.handle.net/10539/24453>