"The black people of South Africa have undergone a transition more dramatic in its compression of human experience into a short space of time than any other community in history... This has changed them dramatically. Yet, as with all the other players in our unfolding drama, the imprint of their past is still upon them" (p. 21).
"The The tradition of communal loyalty and social obligation survives, mutated but still recognizable, in the pullulating townships and squatter camps around the industrial cities. There has been a terrible rending of the whole fabric of African society by a political system that separates even nuclear families, as well as extended ones; yet one still finds a spirit of community, of shred grief and shared joy, in these otherwise soulless surroundings. There is still a collectivist style of decision making in the political movements and trade unions and the hundreds of civic associations that exist in the township" (p. 21).
From "The Mind of South Africa," (Sparks, date tktk)
Sparks concludes this paragraph by saying that Africans do not have a "built-in" attraction to individualist democracy and free-enterprise capitalism.
This exploration of the origins and development of African culture offer some important things to consider when seeking to explore the role of the community journalist.
First of all, there is some suggestion that the black African journalist may be a relatively new concept and not one that is truly part of the origins of the culture. Second, it would suggest that if these communal ties still exist and are still important, it would have a profound impact on how the black African journalist might view their role. Their concept of news, their view of audience and the way they framed "news" would all come from the vision of the journalist as a member of the audience and the group to which he or she was writing.
There is also very likely to be a difference based on this individualistic versus collectivist view (Schwartz and Hofstede would both have something to say here). What's interesting is that in South Africa it would be worthless to try to make any conclusions about journalists at the country level. Africa is at least two different cultures and likely many more than that. Sparks tries to make some conclusions about black Africa in opposition to white South Africans, saying that while there are many differences based on black African ethnic groups, they share some strong common ideals about community and family and how those things are defined.
So, based on this a few things are important to think about:
- comparing black S.A. journalists between ethnic groups
- comparing black and white S.A. journlaists (perhaps)
- exploring whether historical/cultural influences and meanings of community and collectivism survive in a society forcing individualistic definitions
- whether this leads to new definitions of journalism or a pressure to abandon those views of journalism
- whether news is defined within the group or at the country (or international/BBC) level
