The social is political: Media, protest and change as a challenge to African media research

Abstract

Doing media research in Africa can take many forms and approaches. Debates about the suitability of different methods and approaches-quantitative or qualitative, empirical or theoretical, normative or descriptive-have marked research in the field in recent years. The importance of approaching media research in Africa from the point of view of the Global South, rather than just using Africa as ‘raw data’ to support theories developed in the Global North, has been a particularly important point in these debates (Wasserman, 2016; Willems & Mano, 2017). Another recurring and important point in African media research is the need to avoid treating Africa as a monolith and steer clear of the dangers of generalisation, even as we recognise the importance of comparative work.