Supported by the African Studies Centre and Oxford Centre for Global History, University of Oxford; Department of Communication Studies, University of Ghana; Department of Communication and Media Studies, University of Johannesburg this conference interrogates the media landscape not only of the colonial period but also its legacies in the post-independence era and in contemporary broadcast media. Its geographical scope comprises papers on Africa, South Asia, East Asia, Australasia, USA, Northern Ireland and the Netherlands. The keynote lecture will be given by Professor Chandrika Kaul on radio in colonial India, and the conference will finish with a screening and discussion of short films about decolonisation in Francophone Africa.

Programme

10:30-11:00 Welcome and Introductions – Convener: Dr Peter Brooke (Oxford)
Dr Abena Yeboah-Banin (Department of Communication Studies, University of Ghana)
Professor Admire Mare (Department of Communication and Media Studies, University of Johannesburg)
Professor Miles Tendi (Director, African Studies Centre, Oxford)
11:00-12:30 Panel 1: Colonialism, Sight and Sound
Dr Jennifer Blaylock (Rowan), ‘Between Orality and Liveness: The Racialized Construction of Radio Specificity in Africa’
Vincent Kuitenbrouwer (Amsterdam), ‘The Glass House Revisited: Colonial Broadcasting in the Dutch East Indies, 1927-1942’
Tichawona Zinhumwe (Johannesburg / Great Zimbabwe), ‘Decoding the Silence: The Portrayal of Blacks in Colonial Rhodesian Silent Film’
12:30-13:15 Lunch
13:15-14:45 Panel 2: Empire and Metropole
Dulce van Vliet (Utrecht), ‘TedTalks of the early Twentieth Century: Public Lantern Lectures and Dutch Colonial Strategy’
Stephen Hocking (Oxford), ‘The Colonist and the “Sublime”’
Frederike Moormann (Weimar) with Dr Nashilongweshipwe Mushaandja (Windhoek) and Angelika Waniek (independent), ‘Space has become a crowded place: on wireless telecommunication through horns, masts and satellites’
Chair: Dr. Vincent Kuitenbrouwer
15:00-16:30 Panel 3: Decolonising Radio
Professor Audrey Gadzekpo (Ghana), ‘Countering Imperial Legacies in Ghanaian Broadcasting History’
Dr Victoria Ellen Smith (Bath Spa), ‘Radio Ghana’s Dagbani Service in the Making of a National Identity for the New Nation of Ghana’
Moses Adjetey Adjei (Ghana), ‘Ghana Broadcasting Corporation’s Role in Preserving Ghana’s Auditory Heritage’
16:30-17:00 Tea/Coffee
17:00-18:30 Keynote Lecture
Professor Chandrika Kaul (St Andrew’s), ‘“Hum London se Bol Rahe Hain” [This is London Calling]: Broadcasting and the British Raj’
Chair: Dr Peter Brooke (Oxford)

Please visit the website for the programme and to register to join online via Microsoft Teams:
www.africanstudies.ox.ac.uk/event/broadcasting-colonialism-sight-sound-and-media-technologies-in-the-colonial-world