Journalism and the Politics of Narrating African Suffering: An Expert Roundtable

An expert roundtable focused on the key themes of Prof. j. Siguru Wahutu’s upcoming book In the Shadow of the Global North: Journalism in Postcolonial Africa (Cambridge University Press, July 2024).   

Book description (from Cambridge University Press): In the Shadow of the Global North unpacks the historical, cultural, and institutional forces that organize and circulate journalistic narratives in Africa to show that something complex is unfolding in the postcolonial context of global journalistic landscapes, especially the relationships between cosmopolitan and national journalistic fields. Departing from the typical discourse about journalistic depictions of Africa, Prof. j. Siguru Wahutu focuses on the underexplored journalistic representations created by African journalists reporting on African countries. In assessing news narratives and the social context within which journalists construct these narratives, Prof. Wahutu captures not only the marginalization of African narratives by African journalists but opens up an important conversation about what it means to be an African journalist, an African news organization, and African in the postcolony.  

About Professor j. Siguru Wahutu: Prof. Wahutu is an expert in the sociology of media, with an emphasis on genocide, mass violence, and ethnicity in sub-Saharan Africa. He has written about global media patterns in covering genocide in Africa, ethnicity, land, and politics in Kenya, and on the Kenyan media’s experimentation with social media platforms. Prof. Wahutu’s research has appeared in African Journalism Studies, African Affairs, the International Journal of Press/Politics, Global Media and Communication, Media and Communication, Media, Culture, and Society, and Sociological Forum. He is an Assistant Professor at New York University’s Department of Media, Culture, and Communication. 

Space is limited and registration is required. Register here: https://harvard.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_7aKwrvl1kIRIWHA