commbox Social Change Communication

Endogenous Wisdom in Action - the Positive Deviance Approach: An Alternative Conceptualization of Communication and Social Change Praxis

Arvind Singhal, Monique Sternin, Shafique Muhammad, Lucía Durá

In: Handbook of Communication and Development

Srinivas R. Melkote; Arvind Singhal (eds.)

Cheltenham; Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing (2021), pp. 154-171

"This chapter describes and analyzes an alternative communication and social change praxis called the Positive Deviance (PD) approach. Anchored in the traditions of wisdom, PD is based on identifying, amplifying and assessing problem-solving endogenous wisdom that is hidden and elusive, context-cent ... more

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The Evolution of Popular Communication in Latin America

Ana Cristina Suzina (ed.)

Cham: Palgrave Macmillan (2021), xv, 234 pp.

"This book brings together twelve contributions that trace the empirical-conceptual evolution of Popular Communication, associating it mainly with the context of inequalities in Latin America and with the creative and collective appropriation of communication and knowledge technologies as a strategy ... more

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Learning from Communicators in Social Change: Rethinking the Power of Development

Jan Servaes (ed.)

Singapore: Springer (2021), xxiii, 270 pp.

"This book presents the perspectives of some of the main players, both academics and professionals, in communication for sustainable development and social change so as to provide valuable lessons for future generations of change agents. It places emphasis on both the theoretical foundation and prac ... more

Paulo Freire, 100 anos

Matrizes, volume 15, issue 3 (2021), pp. 5-284

Paulo Freire, 100 Years

Adilson Citelli, Ana Cristina Suzina, Thomas Tufte (eds.)

Matrizes, volume 15, issue 3 (2021), pp. 5-284

"Only one of Freire’s (1969/1983) books directly and more broadly addresses the scope of communication; it is 'Extension or Communication?' published in 1969, originally in Spanish, during Freire’s exile in Chile. This book became an important reference for the studies and practices of participa ... more

Social Media for Behaviour Change Toolkit (SM4BC) for Disaster Preparedness and Disaster Risk Reduction in Latin America and the Caribbean
Key Guidance

Nedra Kline Weinreich

Geneva: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) (2021), 170 pp.

"This toolkit will help you to learn and apply the most important concepts of behaviour change to use in your social media planning, content development and outreach. In fact, the ideas you’ll gather here can help you with all aspects of your program’s communications and project design. The acti ... more

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Mobile Technology and Social Transformations: Access to Knowledge in Global Contexts

Stefanie Felsberger, Ramesh Subramanian (eds.)

London; New York: Routledge (2021), xviii, 180 pp.

"This book investigates the ways in which the mobile telephone has transformed societies around the world, bringing both opportunities and challenges. At a time when knowledge and truth are increasingly contested, the book asks how mobile technology has changed the ways in which people create, disse ... more

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Internet and Social Change in Rural Indonesia: From Development Communication to Communication Development in Decentralized Indonesia

Subekti Priyadharma

Wiesbaden: Springer VS (2021), xvii, 341 pp.

"This book is based on an empirical research which explores bottom-up development practices initiated and organized by rural communities in the Indonesian periphery by placing "communication" at its core of analysis. The aim is to determine the extent that the Indonesian decentralization policy and ... more

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The Legacy of Paulo Freire. Contemporary Reflections on Participatory Communication and Civil Society Development in Brazil and Beyond

Ana Cristina Suzina, Thomas Tufte, César Jiménez-Martínez (eds.)

International Communication Gazette, volume 82, issue 5 (2020), pp. 407-503

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De-Constructing Participatory Communication and Civil Society Development in 2020: A Perspective Inspired by Paulo Freire

Thomas Tufte, Ana Cristina Suzina, César Jiménez Martínez

Commons: Revista de Comunicación y Ciudadanía Digital, volume 9, issue 2 (2020), pp. 48-78

"This article explores the “mindprint” of Paulo Freire upon processes of social change in Brazil, with a particular focus on how his liberating pedagogy has influenced practices of participatory communication and civil society development. In exploring the legacy of Freire, his work is approache ... more

Media Innovation and Social Change

Journal of Media Innovations, volume 6, issue 1 (2020), pp. 1-108

"Our purpose with this Special Issue is to present and contribute to a body of research that critically explores the relationship between media innovation and social change. In doing so, we also outline the contours of a research agenda to further develop this emerging field. Our motivation arises f ... more

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"Communication for Change": Radio Sutatenza/Acción Cultural Popular, the Catholic Church, and Rural Development in Colombia during the Cold War

Mary Roldán

In: Itineraries of Expertise: Science, Technology, and the Environment in Latin America's long Cold War

Andra B. Chastain; Timothy W. Lorek (eds.)

Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press (2020), pp. 114-136

"In 1947 Father José Joaquín Salcedo laid the cornerstone of what would become, until its demise nearly a half century later, Latin America’s largest, Catholic, mass media-based education and community development network, the Radiophonic Schools of Radio Sutatenza and Acción Cultural Popular ( ... more

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Communicating for Change: Concepts to Think With
Top Insights

Jo Tacchi, Thomas Tufte (eds.)

Cham: Palgrave Macmillan (2020), xiv, 186 pp.

"This collection presents 14 concepts from a multi-disciplinary collection of internationally leading and emerging scholars, from 13 countries on 5 continents. They come together around three meta-topics: citizenship and justice, critiques of development, and renewing thought (from and for the margi ... more

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Communication, Culture and Social Change: Meaning, Co-Option and Resistance

Mohan Dutta

Cham: Palgrave Macmillan (2020), xxi, 395 pp.

"Drawing on the culture-centered approach (CCA), this book re-imagines culture as a site for resisting the neocolonial framework of neoliberal governmentality. Culture emerged in the 20th Century as a conceptual tool for resisting the hegemony of West-centric interventions in development, disrupting ... more

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Handbook of Communication for Development and Social Change
Top Insights

Jan Servaes (ed.)

Singapore: Springer (2020), 2 vols.

"The book contains 85 chapters written by persons who have been on those frontlines of communication and development [...] A variety of case studies appear in the book. For example, Kriss Barker and Fatou Jah – in a chapter titled “Entertainment-Education in Radio: Three Case Studies from Africa ... ” – explore in detail projects in Nigeria, Burundi and Burkina Faso that used a communication intervention approach advanced by the Population Media Center. Other chapters in the Handbook take the reader to Spain, Kenya, South Africa, Kazakhstan, and beyond. Song Shi examines “ICTs and Modernization in China,” revealing that assumptions and theories of the modernization paradigm have significantly influenced the policies and projects on ICT4D in contemporary China. And, Song Shi writes, discussion on the potential of other approaches in ICT4D in China has also emerged among scholars. Hina Ayaz discusses the “Multiplicity Approach in Participatory Communication” in Pakistan – wherein the country adopted the Global Polio Eradication Initiative – only to run into negative perceptions and banning of polio vaccinations. However, a shift to a more successful approach, grounded in UNICEF’s social mobilization and communityinvolvement communication strategy, brought significant success. While many of the Handbook case studies incorporate participation as a significant development factor, they also address a wide range of social and political issues including, for example, civic engagement, sexual harassment, empowerment, and community voices. In addition to an abundance of case studies from around the world, the Handbook delves into various research methods that are being used to understand and design communication for development and social change interventions [...] Handbook editor Jan Servaes' own chapter (with Rico Lie), “Key Concepts, Disciplines, and Fields in Communication for Development and Social Change ” identifies five clusters of concepts and practices that are evident in the field today and which determine the activities and approaches in communication for sustainable development and social change interventions: The clusters are (1) a normative cluster of concepts; (2) a cluster of concepts that sets an important context for communication activities for development; (3) a cluster of strategic and methodological concepts; (4) a cluster of concepts that relate to methods, techniques, and tools; and (5) a cluster of concepts that addresses the practices of advocacy, (participatory) monitoring and evaluation, and impact assessment. The authors extend their discussion into three subdivisions: (1) health communication, (2) agricultural extension and rural communication, and (3) environmental communication (including climate change communication). This leads the reader into issues related to (1) right to communicate; (2) education and learning; (3) innovation, science, and technology; (4) natural resource management; (5) food security; (6) poverty reduction; (7) peace and conflict; (8) children and youth, women, and senior citizens; and (9) tourism. Some of the forerunners of development communication have not been forgotten. In “Daniel Lerner and the Origins of Development Communication”, Hemant Shah links Lerner’s 1958 book Passing of Traditional Society to today’s modernization and faith in technology to solve social problems. Also contributing to the foundation of this field is Paulo Freire who contributed much to idea that participation should be a vital part of the development dialogue. Ana Fernández-Aballí Altamirano’s chapter on "The Importance of Paulo Freire to Communication for Development and Social Change" highlights his main work Pedagogy of the Oppressed as a "before-and-after" in the fields of education, research, and communication, initially in Latin America and later in both North and South. Particularly in the case of development communication and communication for social change, the author stresses, Freire’s work had a definitive impact ..." (Review by Royal Donald Colle, Journal of Development Communication, vol. 30 (2), page 92-94) more

Comunicación y cambio social

Alex Iván Arévalo Salinas, Griselda Vilar Sastre, Marcial García López (eds.)

Valencia: Tirant Humanidades (2019), 241 pp.

Impact as Driving Force of Journalistic and Social Change

Andrea Wagemans, Tamara Witschge, Frank Harbers

Journalism, volume 20, issue 4 (2019), pp. 552-567

"In this article, we explore how entrepreneurial journalists from a wide variety of national contexts present ‘impact’ as one of the aims in their work. By exploring the variety, incongruences, and strategic considerations in the discourse on impact of those at the forefront of journalistic inno ... more

Voices with Purpose: A Manual on Communication Strategies for Development and Social Change. Participant's Module
Key Guidance

Rafael Obregón Gálvez, Jair Vega Casanova

Windhoek: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES);Universidad del Norte (2019), vii, 64 pp.

"This module presents a step-by-step process that will enable members of organisations, or campaigns, interested in improving their visibility and impact, to formulate effective communication strategies for social and behavioural change Chapter One includes elements that help situate the design of t ... more