Saving the World: A Brief History of Communication for Development and Social Change

Abstract

Although the history of Communication for Development (C4D) can be traced back to communication studies' formal establishment in the first half of the twentieth century, the swift expansion of information and communication technologies (ICTs) over the past two decades has re-shaped C4D into a trendy field with growing theoretical and policy attention. Authored by [Emile G. McAnany], Saving the World: A Brief History of Communication for Development and Social Change presents a chronological and theoretical summary of communication's complex role in development and social change as well as the shifts of paradigms within C4D since the end of World War II. According to McAnany, the purpose of this book is three-fold: to explore how theories and practices have evolved along with the development of communication technologies, to evaluate the current status of C4D in the long-term struggle for development and social change, and to better understand the criteria for assessing the influence of C4D-related endeavours. In this regard, Saving the World is both an intellectual history of communication's intersections with projects aiming for fostering prosperity, as well as a call for continuing research and policy attention to communication's great potential in future policy considerations. The book's narrative begins with the emergence of "mass communication" in U.S. universities and Truman-era aid programs, which, in the context of the beginning of the Cold War, paved the way for applying U.S. mass communication research to the international arena. The book explicitly links the establishment of C4D to three foundational texts: The Passing of Traditional Society (Lerner, 1958), Diffusion of Innovations (Rogers, 1962), and Mass Media and National Development (Schramm, 1964). These works propose that mass communication technologies can function as "magical multipliers" with an implicit modernizing effect and thus the promotion of modern communication systems is crucial for transforming "traditional" societies. In contrast to other historical accounts that regard this body of literature as the defining factor of the dominant paradigm's adoption of the modernization-diffusion model, McAnany emphasizes the vital role of institutional power, especially UNESCO's, in shaping and implementing the dominant paradigm. This argument is supported by the retelling of a series of early development communication projects such as rural radio in India and educational media in American Samoa, El Salvador, and Mexico. Despite various positive outcomes, these projects indicate the major shortcomings of the dominant paradigm, namely its undue emphasis on institutional power, top-down approach to social change, Western-driven vision of "modernization," and ambiguous criteria for project evaluation.