Local Folktales on the Radio: Orature and Action Research

Abstract

With the ROAR method, Agerbæk offers a distinct approach to participatory content creation and communication for social change. Developed during his fieldwork in rural Malawi, he uses it to investigate how local storytellers can create radio folktales (nthano) and use them to address critical issues of collective concern. Grounding his analysis in discussions of citizens’ media and dialogic democracy theory, he provides a telling indication of the importance of indigenous knowledge as well as the values and challenges of supporting local village dwellers in exercising their communicative capabilities as citizens and conducting social critique.