NEWS – Page 11

STATEMENT ON PROF GLENDA GRAY AND HER RIGHT TO ACADEMIC FREEDOM AND EXPRESSION OF DIFFERENCE

The underwriting Executive Committee members of the South African Communications Association (Sacomm) records in this statement support for academic freedom and freedom of expression as a constitutional right in the wake of the controversy surrounding a government proposal to investigate Professor Glenda Gray for expressing a different view.

President of the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) and a member of the Ministerial Advisory Council (MAC), Gray expressed reservations about the effectivity of the current lockdown. Gray was appointed by the Minister of Health to advise on matters relating to the management of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In May 2020, Gray participated in media interviews and together with other eminent scientists expressed criticism on the implementation of some aspects of the lockdown regulations announced by government. The Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkize responded to each of Gray’s criticisms in a step by step, point by point, refutation.

It is correct and within his right to defend the government’s decisions and stances, as it is within all scientists rights to differ in approaches, methods, and of course ideological stances. It is what is taking place globally. This transparency of debate is important for our democracy; indeed it is what makes our democracy a vibrant space.

However, Acting Director General of the Department of Health, Dr Anban Pillay went much further. He has asked for an investigation into the conduct of its president, Gray, because she held different views – stating that the SAMRC – is a government entity.

Actually the SAMRC is meant to be an independent statutory body. According to Assaf: “Dr Pillay’s actions represent a violation of the right to academic freedom that includes the right to freedom of academic research (s.16 (d) of the Constitution).”

Assaf: “we believe that freedom of scientific enquiry is fundamental to the health of our constitutional democracy. Academics and researchers need the space to undertake independent research in an environment that is free from fear, intimidation and political interference. To threaten researchers and to muzzle their voice would have a chilling effect on creativity, innovation and experimentation.

“We believe that the spirit of science was beautifully captured in President Ramaphosa’s address to the nation on 24 May 2020 when he said that “We appreciate the diverse and sometimes challenging views of the scientists and health professionals in our country, which stimulate public debate and enrich our response.”

It is this spirit that should inform the public response to science and scientists as they do their vital work.

We support this view of the president as well as that of Assaf. We point out that any idea to “investigate” anyone for having different views smacks of Stalinism, authoritarianism, and is in distinct contradiction with our constitutional democracy. Such threats must be withdrawn with urgency.

Sacomm Executive Committee:

President – Prof Elnerine (WJ) Greeff

Deputy President – Prof Tanja Bosch

Interest group Convenors / Co-convenors:
Communications Advocacy and Activism – Prof Glenda Daniels
Corporate Communication – Prof Mehita Iqani
Communication Studies – Dr Sandra Pitcher
Emerging Scholars Network: Ms Sylvia Skhosana and Mr Collen Chambwera

CFP: CALL FOR ABSTRACTS FOR AN EDITED VOLUME

INDIGENOUS AFRICAN POPULAR MUSIC: THE ART AND ITS APPLICATIONS

Abiodun Salawu andIsrael Fadipe

Indigenous popular music is an essential feature of any African society, which is being used for every endeavour an African engages in: celebration of life and death, daily activities, economics, politics, religions. Thus, music is a way of life. All over Africa, there are also various genres of indigenous music which have been used to document African histories, democratic experience, social crusade, mobilisation for food security, health, environmental health, gender empowerment, literacy and other developmental issues that have had great impact on the lives of Africans. Africans’ reality revolves around their pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial experiences as these are part of what constitute African identity in the globalised world. Unlike the conventional media (book, newspaper, magazine, radio and television) which evidently have been used to document African histories, indigenous African media, especially indigenous African popular music and its artistes have not attracted sufficient attention to determine how they have documented much of African experiences and events. At this juncture in Africa’s history, it is pertinent to examine the role being played by indigenous African popular music and African popular music artistes. It is important to know the role our African popular music artistes have played and are playing in documenting or intervening in these African experiences. What are their contributions to the reportage, awareness and mitigation of these realities that have been experienced by African societies in the past and present? How have the indigenous African popular music artistes portrayed the world, Africa, governments, people and themselves in relation to these realities? What are the dominant themes or narratives or issues about, for instance, African democratic experience, gender empowerment, food security, environmental health in African indigenous popular music? How do the Africans perceive the narratives about these realities in the indigenous African popular music? How have the indigenous African popular music narratives influenced Africans’ knowledge, attitude and practice of the developmental issues in their respective societies? How does the indigenous African popular music represent African cosmology? What is indigenous African popular music? Who are the indigenous African popular music artistes? In what ways do the indigenous African popular musicians serve as philosophers and prophets to their societies?

This book will try to fill the apparent gaps in the field of indigenous African popular music and social change. This is the reason why original works by authors interested in this project will be encouraged to focus on any genre of indigenous African popular music and artistes. Among the subjects for consideration as chapters are the following indicative topics:

The Nature, Philosophies and Genres of African Indigenous Popular Music

Indigenous African Popular Music and Health Communication

Indigenous African Popular Music, Democracy and Politics

Indigenous African Popular Music and Social Crusade

Indigenous African Popular Music and Security Issues (Food Security etc.)

Indigenous African Popular Music and Environmental Health

Indigenous African Popular Music and Gender Empowerment

Indigenous African Popular Music and African Children

Indigenous African Popular Music and African Youths

Indigenous African Popular Music and other development issues

Indigenous African Popular Music, Religions and Religious Activities

Indigenous African Popular Music and African Philosophy of Unborn, Life and Death

Indigenous African Popular Music and African Indigenous Cultures

Indigenous African Popular Music and African Science

Indigenous African Popular Music and the World

The Future of the Indigenous African Popular Music

Indigenous African Popular Music Economics

Indigenous African Popular Music Artistes

Indigenous Popular Music Artistes as Philosophers

Indigenous African Popular Music as Prophets

Indigenous African Popular Music Artistes as Social Critics/Crusaders

Indigenous African Popular Music Audience

Indigenous African Popular Music in the Broadcast Media

Indigenous African Popular Music on YouTube etc.

Influence of the indigenous African music on the African modern music

The list is by no means exhaustive

Oxford University Press has expressed interest in publishing the book.

Interested persons should please submit abstracts of 300 – 500 words to israelfadipe77@gmail.com by June 20, 2020. Decisions on abstracts received will be communicated by June 27, 2020. Full papers of accepted abstracts will be expected by September 30, 2020.

Professor Abiodun Salawu
Director of Research Entity: Indigenous Language Media in Africa
Faculty of Humanities

North-West University
Mafikeng Campus
Private Bag X2046
Mmabatho 2735
South Africa

Telephone: +27 18 389 2238

E-mail: abiodun.salawu@nwu.ac.za
salawuabiodun@gmail.com
salawuabiodun@yahoo.com

CFP: Fliek! Film and/in Afrikaans literature

There are two main reasons why numerous movie releases are still adaptations of literary works. The use of novels or plays as resources for films was initially a method by which the film industry sought to increase the status of the new medium by drawing the attention of fans of “high culture”. Another important reason is economic in nature: Best-selling novels or dramas are often the best advertisement for a movie.

Where the relationship between film-literature and adaptation / translation comes into play, film critics and academics are still not in agreement about this particular relationship. According to some, the filmmaker is a translator: he / she is busy with an intersemiotic translation; thus a translation from one sign system or mode to another. Others, such as Bluestone (2003), believe that adaptation delivers a completely different product, with different aesthetic conventions, because film is inherently quite different from literature. It is therefore futile to argue that film A is better or weaker than novel A. Each object is autonomous, with its own unique and specific characteristics. The filmmaker only processes a paraphrase of the word text and uses only its raw material. The filmmaker is therefore not a translator, but a new author or creator.

The notion of film and / in Afrikaans literature raises further questions: Are all Afrikaans texts equally suitable for adaptation? Why do some “inferior” novels become commercially viable films? How do fundamental differences between filmic and words texts – especially in how reality is represented – manifest in Afrikaans engaged literature (betrokke literatuur)? What affective experiences (or lack thereof) do Afrikaans film elicit in viewerships that differences in race or socio-economic aspects?

In attempting to answer these, volume 32 (3) of stilet.digital considers the varied ways in which:

film adaptations or visual film translations of Afrikaans literature manifest in academic discourse,
Afrikaans literature is used in films as intertexts,
more general analyses on the relationship between film and literature,
other adaptations / translations, such as TV adaptation and digital sphere adaptations, and
figures, such as Jans Rautenbach and Katinka Heyns directed the Afrikaans film industry.

One-page proposals can be sent to issue editors, Adéle Nel (adele.nel@nwu.ac.za) and Rikus Ströh (rickus.stroh@nwu.ac.za), by the end of June. Final contributions (between 6,000 and 8,000 words in Afrikaans, English or Dutch) are expected by 01 November 2020, with publication in mid-2021.

Younger and emerging academics are encouraged to submit film reviews, film revisits, and interviews on the following:

 films based on a novel/novelle (for example Triomf or ‘n Pawpaw vir my darling),
 tv- or radio adaptations of novels (such as Deon Meyer’s Trackers),
 secondary sources and non-fiction work on the Afrikaans film industry (Daar doer in die fliek; Jans Rautenbach. Dromer,

baanbreker en auteur).
General enquiries can be directed to editor@stilet.digital

Communicating with Communication Studies: An Analysis of the Discipline

Keyan G Tomaselli and Arnold Shepperson

Graduate Programme in Cultural and Media Studies

University of Natal, Durban

OBJECTIVE

The objective of the study conducted between 1999 and 2001 was to review the state of communication studies with special emphasis on research performance and education at higher education institutions in South Africa. The study was commissioned by the National Research Foundation (NRF) (Tomaselli and Shepperson 2001).

Please download the full study here.

SACOMM2020 conference update and forecast

Dear SACOMM Members and Associates

Flowing forth from the national state of disaster issued around the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, the SACOMM Executive Committee and the 2020 Local Organising Committee at the University of Limpopo would like to update you on our conference which is set to take place later this year. The outbreak remains a very fluid situation, and please be assured that we are monitoring the effects and implications very closely. We are hopeful that our conference will be able to go ahead as planned, albeit perhaps a little later in the year than usual.

Since we seek to make decisions that prioritise your health and safety, we will not be issuing our Call for Papers at this time, but will work towards doing so as soon as the situation allows. We appreciate that this remains a stressful and trying situation, and ask for your understanding as we seek to make well-informed decisions in a timely manner.

Please feel free to contact the Association directly if you have any questions. On our website you will find our contact details and regularly updated information around the conference.

CFP: Critical Arts: Under Fire articles

Temporary free access and Call

Critical Arts is placing on temporary free access on a rolling basis all the Under Fire articles that have been published to date. These are short essays that uncompromisingly address pressing issues facing academia, our students and our societies, but which are rarely discussed in the formal academic literature. This first batch is available on free access until 29 February.

Under fire

Call for Editorial Board Members – The Journal of African Media Studies

The Journal of African Media Studies (JAMS) is seeking expressions of interest from media and communication research professionals to join our Editorial Board. The opportunity will allow you to keep up-to-date with research in our field and to improve the quality of submissions for JAMS. The opportunity allows you to position yourself as one of the leaders in the evolving and most exciting field of African Media and Communication Studies. JAMS is an interdisciplinary journal that provides a forum for debate on the historical and contemporary aspects of media and communication in Africa. All articles are double-blind peer-reviewed in order to maintain the highest standards of scholastic integrity. It welcomes research articles, film and theatre reviews, Blog and book reviews as well as commentaries reflective of African media and communication.

Appointments to the Editorial Board are for a 2-year period and may be renewable. Membership on the Editorial Board requires ability to perform allocated tasks and to work with a team.

The Editorial Board members activities include:

· working closely with Editors to develop the journal’s vision, policy and practices

· providing expertise and assessment assistance to the editors

· helping to approve topics for special issues,

· participating in monthly board meetings,

· reviewing 8 to 10 manuscripts yearly, and

· helping recruit reviewers

· Promoting the journal to authors and readers

The following are criteria for selection of board members:

· A PhD degree and relevant expertise

· Prior experience with publishing in and reviewing for peer-review publications

· Access to and capacity for completing reviews in the online publication system

Applications should be submitted by 10 February 2020 to the Principal Editor, Dr Winston Mano by email: manow@westminster.ac.uk

Application materials should include:

· Curriculum Vitae

· Short statement of interest

· List of journals for which you have reviewed manuscripts

For more information about the JAMS, Submission Guidelines and recent issues, please go to the Website: https://www.intellectbooks.com/journal-of-african-media-studi

Humanities, Citations and Currency: Hierarchies of Value and Enabled Recolonisation

The article below has just been published and is on free access until 20 February. Prof. Keyan Tomaselli has requested this free access status from the publisher as it speaks directly to many of the issues that we academic authors have to consider when publishing, in navigating university research reward systems, NRF rating applications, and performance management contracts. In short, university policies are often formulated without sufficient consideration of the issues analysed in this study

Abstract A comparative analysis examines the relevance of journal measurement indices for the Humanities and the Sciences. It explains how different measurements work, what they measure and their impact on the integrity of research, paradigm change and citation levels. The increasing use by university auditors of impact factors as performance management and research output indicators is critically examined with regard to implications for the Humanities. The effect of this neoliberal approach on African-based academic developments is examined, as are the intellectually re-colonising effects of such systems.

The article can be accessed here or
https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/BDRWMQVUR8CZC3SW2H5I/full?target=10.1080/02560046.2019.1690534

CFP: The 16th Annual Global Communication Association Conference

CALL FOR PAPERS

Perspectives on Africa Media and Communication

Durban, South Africa

June 10-12, 2020

Hosted by the Durban University of Technology and supported by the University of Kwazulu-Natal, Mangosuthu University of Technology, and University of Zululand, the Global Communication Association invites you to submit your abstracts for the 16th annual convention to be held in Durban, South Africa from June 10 – 12, 2020.

The GCA invites research papers exploring any aspect of issues related to the theme of the conference, including the following broad topics:

African media and communication methodologies, theories, and perspectives
Media and their impact on public opinion
The evolving modes of teaching and learning
New communication technologies, the Internet, and social media
Intercultural communication
News and information flow

Abstract Submission: (All submissions should include two separate attachments in Word format)
A 400-word abstract of the paper or panel proposal should be submitted electronically to Dr. S.E Usadolo and Mr Thabani Khumalo via the following email: gcaconference@dut.ac.za
All abstract submissions must be received by February 29, 2020, for review and consideration. Acceptance of a paper or panel proposal obligates authors to attend the conference and present the paper. The abstract should include research objectives, methodology and significance followed by keywords.

Poster presentations on topics related to the conference theme are also encouraged. Complete panel proposals may be submitted to Dr. Yahya R. Kamalipour at yrkamal@gmail.com.
Abstracts will be peer-reviewed by at least two scholars. Authors of the abstracts will be notified of acceptance by March 15, 2020.

A separate document including the name, academic institution, mailing address, phone number, email address, and brief author’s profile must be submitted for each author.
If accepted, the full-length paper (not to exceed 25-pages excluding references and tables) must be submitted by May 30, 2020. All papers should adhere to The American Psychological Association (APA) style manual. For details, visithttps://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/05.
Where appropriate, put “STUDENT” in the upper right-hand corner of the title page; indicate whether the paper comes from a bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral student.

CONFERENCE LOCATION (HOTEL AND FACILITIES):

The conference will take place on the campus of the Durban University of Technology (DUT).

Special Conference rates will be offered by several hotels in Durban, within a 5km radius of the conference venue.

Details of these rates and the hotel links will be provided shortly. Delegates are requested to register as early as possible, as Durban is a popular tourist destination during this time.

Accommodation Link: https://www.dut.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Accommodation-Durban-KwaZulu-Natal-South-Africa-2020.pdf

Conference Registration Fees:

Standard registrations – early bird: R2500.00 – Register before 20 February 2020 -Provide proof of payment before 21 February 2020.
Standard registrations- normal: R3500.00- Register before 01 May 2020.
Postgraduate students- early bird: R1500.00 – Register before 20 February 2020 – Provide proof of payment before 21 February 2020.
Postgraduate students- normal: R2500.00- Register before 01 May 2020.
An attractive and favorable package will be offered to all participants. Graduate students presenting papers will be given a 50% registration discount. A registration link and details of fees and payment procedures are attached below:

Registration Link: https://www.dut.ac.za/gca-2020/

AIR TRANSPORT: There are daily flights from major cities around the world to South Africa. Some international airlines fly directly to Durban, while others fly to Cape Town or Johannesburg, domestic airlines can be used to fly to Durban. Emirates and British Airways, Qatar Turkish Airlines fly directly to Durban. For details visit https://kingshakainternational.co.za/airport/durban-airport/

GROUND TRANSPORT: Delegates will be met on arrival at King Shaka International Airport in Durban and transported to their hotels or to the conference venue, depending on the date of arrival. Shuttles will be provided from the hotels to the conference and event venues.

After the conference, shuttles will be provided from the hotels to the airport. Links to approved tour agents will be provided if delegates wish to tour after or before the conference. Meter taxis and Uber are also available and distance from King Shaka International Airport to Durban City is 30 km.

OPTIONAL TOURS: After the conference, interested participants may take advantage of an optional tour such as visiting a safari.

Questions:

Please direct any questions to Dr. Yahya R. Kamalipour at yrkamal@gmail.com.

Important Dates:

Abstract Submission Deadline	February 29, 2020
Acceptance Notification	March 15, 2020
Last Date for Early Bird Registration	April 15, 2020
Last Date for Registration	May 15, 2020
Full Length Paper Submission	May 30, 2020
Conference Dates	June 10-12, 2020
Optional Tours	June 13, 2020

CFP: CALL FOR PROPOSALS

The 2020 CILECT Congress at Westerdals Institute for Film and Media, Kristiania University College,

Oslo, Norway (4-9 October 2020) will incorporate a conference under the title

AUDIOVISUAL EDUCATION: IMPACT AND RELEVANCE

The global streaming platforms are disrupting traditional film and television linear storytelling and distribution models. The competition to make an impact is stronger than ever. But impact has both positive and negative connotations. Images could produce new ideas, but could also reinforce cultural stereotypes. Stories could reveal areas of human co-existence, but could also reproduce dominant ideologies.

Relevance in this context relate audio-visual education to societal change.

In putting the focus on impact and relevance in this conference, the aim is to emphasise the multiple spheres of influence that images and stories have. Access to technologies and the changes in audiences’ adoption and adaption to the new platforms requires a re-examination of education.

We encourage submissions that would address questions such as:

What shapes the audio-visual curriculum in the time of transformation of the technological means and the distribution platforms?

What are the new storytelling models in the age of serial and multilinear drama?

How can we bridge?

We expect:

Theoretical Presentations & Case Studies (up to 30 mins.)

Workshops (up to 60 mins.)

Exhibitions & Screenings All proposals must include:

An abstract (up to 200 words) that describes the content and form of the presentation or activity

A short bio of the proposer up to 100 words

A photograph of the proposer that is at least 1 MB and no more than 5 MB in size

Please send all submissions by email to executive.director@cilect.org
NOT LATER THAN 15 MARCH 2020

https://www.cilect.org/