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1. Cultural engineering and development

Description:
Development institutions have in recent years realised the importance of indigenous culture as an important vehicle for communication. This has led to the creation of programmes in which local cultural forms have been "recruited" as the communication process for "selling" development strategies. The paper draws upon the author's experiences of theatre for primary health mobilisation and awareness in rural Malawi. The advantage of performing arts as a medium for development communication are that: 1) they provide a more entertaining form than monologous media, 2) they can easily use local languages and cultural forms such as songs and dances, 3) they encourage participation and debate in the audiences. The main disadvantage is that such intrumental use of the performing arts can lead to a cornmodification of culture which is manifested in: 1) the professionalisation of cultural workers in a context which is not normally commercial, 2) the reification and triviliation of community culture through the use of traditional external forms to convey messages totally at variance with their original context. Such cultural engineering, at its most insensitive can constitute a form of developmental imperialism which erodes rather than supports the cultural cement binding local communities. Suggested solutions demand agents' wide-ranging consultations, not only with development minded stake-holders, but also with those who possess cultural skills and interests.
Date Issued:
1997-01-01T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:
Michigan State University. Libraries
Collection:
Africa Media Review

2. The use of traditional forms in community education

Description:
This paper challenges the entrenched Shannon and Weaver model of communication and suggests alternative approaches to community health education. An alternative, where the emphasis falls on the receiver or 'reader', is examined with special reference to DramAidE. DramAidE is a South African state funded HIV/AIDS education programme in which plays, workshops and community days become a process through which dialogue around health issues is established between health workers and a school community. The approach is to use local expressive forms (plays, songs, poems, dances and posters) as enabling resources or mechanisms of learning and of re-enacting and retelling the 'story' from shifting positions. The issues raised about the impact on the community of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases are further explored in participatory workshops with the intention of changing attitudes and developing some skills. The work is based on the premise that good health is dependent on social, psychological, economic and environmental factors. Likewise, sicknesses are states which must be seen in a holistic sense. The understanding of the meaning of health in this approach is culture bound and it is important not to separate out the physiological from the cultural. A further contention is that health, as a constituent and dynamic component of subjectivity does not refer to a state so much as to a process. This means that health is about self-image, self-esteem and self-confidence. The drama based workshops offered in the progamme focus on building self-esteem and self-awareness as a first step in making choices about healthy behaviour. Therefore, health education should not be actively aimed at changing personal behaviour alone. Young people need to demonstrate skills in changing their social environment and to this end DramAidE is forming clubs in schools that will become self-sufficient and to encourage the school community to take pride in building a culture of learning and health promotion in the school. The long term aim of DramAidE is to develop a social movement around celebrating the joy of choosing to live a healthy life style. We are asking ourselves and young people to 'Act Alive'. One strategy for mobilising young people is build an awareness of the interaction between human rights and health and thus find a common theme that cuts across differences of heritage and culture
Date Issued:
1997-01-01T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:
Michigan State University. Libraries
Collection:
Africa Media Review

3. Action media

Description:
Communication for health promotion is a complex process that is further problematised by limitations within communication theory. Linear models of communication give primacy to the communicator and see communication as a largely objective process. These models, which are often referred to as "communicator-message-receiver" (CMR) models, incorporate the communicator as a primary agent in determining the nature of information and the mechanisms for information flow. Action media is presented as a methodology for the development of media products that integrate the interests of both the communicator and representatives of target audiences within a health promotion context. The methodology has its roots in participatory action research (PAR) approaches and incorporates qualitative contextual research with a media development process. It is not intended that the methodology be perceived as an exclusive and absolute means for the development of health promotion materials. Rather, it adds to the range of methodologies health promoters can apply in media development, whilst also providing important insights into context-based activities that are consultative, collaborative and empowering. Action Media as it pertains to health promotion, has the following elements: Identification of significant health challenges; identification of sufficiently homogenous groups within defined geographic areas and collaboration with individuals within each context to co-facilitate workshops. The media products that emerge typically reveal deep insights into perspectives of the target group, are immediately relevant to the participant' s peer communities, and may be relevant nationally as health promotion products.The methodology differs considerably from producer centric approaches in that it sees contexts of media utility as dynamic, and furthermore, sets out to generate media products that are supportive of action, rather than simply as vehicles for information. Within the complex contexts of media development, the Action Media methodology provides insight into the potential for integration and empowerment of individuals and groups within target communities. It demonstrates a replicable process that provides for the development of deeply contextualised media products on the one hand, and qualitative understandings of community contexts on the other.
Date Issued:
1997-01-01T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:
Michigan State University. Libraries
Collection:
Africa Media Review