Climate Change Communication in Africa: Emerging Trends and Practices

This groundbreaking collection explores the complex intersections of communication and climate change in Africa.

From legacy media’s framing of climate narratives to the mobilising potential of digital media, the volume examines the multi-faceted ways in which climate change is mediated through different communication channels and how different media can be harnessed to amplify African voices on climate change. Drawing on a broad range of theoretical and methodological approaches, case studies cover all regions of the continent, providing a nuanced examination of how the media shape our understanding of and responses to climate change in Africa. Contributions scrutinise different facets of climate change communication, providing illuminating accounts on pitfalls in climate change communication, climate justice communication strategies, social media activism and climate change, and datafication of climate change. This is the first collection to comprehensively address climate change communication across the continent, featuring perspectives from all regions in Africa.

An essential contribution to the global conversation on climate change communication, the collection will appeal to researchers, academics, policymakers, communication activists, and students at all levels in the fields of environmental communication, media studies and journalism, as well as general readers keen to understand the complex dynamics of climate change in Africa.

Tendai Chari (PhD) is an Associate Professor of Media Studies and C1 National Research Foundation (NRF) Rated researcher at the University of Venda, South Africa. He holds a PhD in media studies from the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa. Previously, he lectured at several universities in Africa, including the University of Zimbabwe (where he was head of the media programme in the English department), the National University of Science and Technology and Fort Hare University (South Africa). Chari is widely published in the field of media and communication studies, and his research focuses on political communication with a broadened horizon on the interface between digital media and politics, media and conflict, and media ethics and popular culture. His other publications have appeared in the Journal of African Media Studies, Global Media (China Edition), African Journalism Studies, International Communication Gazette, African Identities, and Journal of African Elections. He is the co-editor of Global Pandemics and Media Ethics: Issues and Perspectives (Routledge, 2022, co-edited with Professor Martin N. Ndlela). Chari is a recipient of several grants and fellowships, which include the African Peace Building Network Fellowship (2017), the African Peacebuilding Book Publishing Manuscript grant (2018), the African Humanities Program (APH) of the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Post-Doctoral Fellowship (2022). Chari is working finalising his single-authored book titled Diaspora Media and Homeland Conflict: Coloniality of Conflict Journalism in Zimbabwe (Routledge).

Allen Munoriyarwa (PhD) holds a PhD in Journalism from the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. Currently, he is an Associate Professor of Journalism at Walter Sisulu University (WSU) in South Africa, in the Department of Marketing, Public Relations and Communication. He is the former coordinator of the Media Policy and Democracy Project (MPDP). This research project explored the growth of digital surveillance practices in Southern Africa under the auspices of the Media Policy and Democracy Project. He is also a board member of Intelwatch, a civil society organisation that operates in Africa. (It can be followed here: https: //intelwatch.org.za/.) Professor Allen Munoriyarwa is also the Coordinator of the British Academy Research titled, ’Watching the Watchers: Strengthening Public Oversight of intelligence-driven surveillance’. (It can be found here: https: //www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/watchingthewatchers/. - PI Professor Jane Duncan). His research interests are in AI, digital surveillance, digital media ecosystems and climate communication practices. He is also working on several other research projects on AI. He is also the head of the AI research niche area at WSU. He has researched widely on digital journalism practices like data journalism, AI, and disinformation. His research interests are in surveillance, digital journalism, media cultures, and digital surveillance. He has published widely in these areas. He co-authored one of the first books on Digital surveillance in Southern Africa. Professor Munoriyarwa is also a member of the Critical Studies of Climate, Media, and Discourse, which is a working group of the Climate Social Science Network (CSSN). The CSSN is an international network of climate scholars headquartered at the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society.