Play Theory and Public Media: A Case Study in Kenya
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Date
2014-03-28
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
Abstract
This chapter focuses on common play, the first public activity most humans learn and practice. The authors use play theory to explain the significance of editorial cartooning in Kenya. They suggest that, in developing democracies that cannot assume universal literacy, media users concerned about public life receive initial and meaningful information on politics through conventions associated with the editorial cartoon. They argue that cartoon viewers learn through this play mode rather than from public debate or through a rational articulation of issues. The five cartoonists interviewed here describe their work in ways uncommon for the press establishment, and they evince values like courage, criticism of entrenched power, and passion for justice – values that the press establishment reveres, yet practices much more conservatively.
Description
Book Chapter
Keywords
Cartoonists, Common play, Editorial cartoon
Citation
Play Theory and Public Media: A Case Study in Kenya Editorial Cartoons, in Fortner, R. S. and Fackler, M. The Handbook of Media and Mass Communication Theory, NY: Wiley-Blackwell, April 2014, pp.726-740.