(Communicatio: South African Journal for Communication Theory and Research, 2011-04-11) Obonyo, Levi
While the scholarship on communication theory has evolved over many years in Africa it is still work in progress.
This discourse has been anchored in society’s cultural milieu. The import of this is that the debate has evolved
without incorporating the realities of Africa. Consequently, theories of communication and of the mass media
are an ill fit on the continent. As communication scholarship in Africa matures, it requires examining how the
realities of the continent can contribute to the development of a theory that best matches this environment.
Some of these realities include the evolution of African governance, its culture, and the progression of
communication as a discipline. While this article does not make the leap to propose what such a theory would
look like, it seeks to raise some of these realities as a starting point for further discussion