Presentation given at IAMCR 2011 Panel: Media Ethnography and Public Sphere Engagement

1. Ethnographies of youthagency in communication for developmentby Prof. Thomas TufteRoskilde University, Denmark Presentation given at IAMCR 2011 Panel: Media Ethnography and Public Sphere Engagement Istanbul, 14 July 2011

2. Thispresentation 1. Research objectives of myproject: ’PeopleSpeaking Back? Media, Empowerment and Democracy in East Africa’ 2. Outliningconceptualcontexts from which to exploreyouthagency 3. Exploringyouthagencyethnographically

3. PeopleSpeaking Back? Media, empowerment and democracy in East Africa (2009-2013) • A proliferation, multiplication and intensification in the means and forms of communication for social change: alternative media, citizen media, social movement media, nano-media, C4D in UN-organisations • A celebration of youthful social mobilization in North Africa and Middle East. What is goingon in Sub-saharanAfrica, in ’democratic’ countries as ie Tanzania? • The issue of youth, civic engagement and change: myfocusstarted out on a specific organisation: Femina HIP in Tanzania

4. Tanzania • 42 miopeople • Multiparty political system sincemid 1990ies • Rapidlychanging media and comm landscape • Civil society development – engagingwith the media and engaging in public debate • Changingpoliticalenvironment • New opportunities for youngcitizens? • Manylimitations: electricity (10%), banking (12%) , education..

5. Research objectives • To assess how youth experience, make use of and engage in the public sphere and in democratic development? • To explore how youth engage with a specific civil society-driven media and communication platform • To deconstruct the specific C4D initiative: its theme choice & development; content production process; it’s relation to both upwards and downward accountability; its adaptation to change media and comm landscape.

6. Media Access in Tanzania (2009) Weekly activities (TAMPS 2009): • 77% listens to radio (88%) • 43% watches TV (42%) • 28% reads a newspaper (22%) • 8% reads a magazine (3%) • 63% makes mobile call (42%) • 45% sends a text message (30%) • 9% listens to radio on mobile (6%) • 2% uses the internet (2%)

7. Femina – reach per product (2009) Fema magazine: • 42% knows the magazine (9.8 mill) • 12% has read Fema within the last 7 days (2.8 mill) Si Mchezo Magazine: • 29% knows the magazine (6.8 mill) • 5% has read Si Mchezo! within the last 7 days (1.2 mill) Fema TV Talk Show: • 20% knows the program (4.7 mill) • Almost 1 million regular viewers, 3.5 million watch every now and then PilikaPilika (radio drama): - 5.4 million regular listeners in mainland Tanzania Chezasalama.com • 28.000 registered users and approx. 30.000 annual visits Feminareaches 25% of the Tanzanian population

8. Contexts of youthagency (1)Youthexperiencing an epochalshift • Youthare not just anyyouth, sincetheyareexperiencing the epochal transformation in theirbodies (…) Those of uswhoareelderfeeldoubts and uncertaintiesthat have nothing to do withthose of oursons and daughters; theyare of a differentcaliber and type (…) We had everydogmawewanted and they have nothingeveningbeginning to resemblesuchdogmas – either in the religious, philosophicalorpoliticalsense (Martin-Barbero 2010)

9. Contexts of youthagency (2) The advent of globalization • On the onehand, globalization, jointlywithtechnologicaldevelopment, has undoubtedlyincreased the cultural offers. But on the otherhand, it is equally true that the possibilities for accessarereducedorrestricted. In thatsense, the thinking and analysisregarding the relationshipbetweenyouth, communication and social change must belocatedprecisely in the tension produced by thisparadox. I.e., more and bettermeans for communication, increasinglypowerfultechnologicaldevices, ’availability’ of enormousresources for information and knowledge, in coexistencewith the increasingimpoverishment of large areas of the planet, the aggravatedconditions of exclusion, and the so called ’digital divide’ (Reguillo, 2009; 22)

10. Contexts of youthagency (3)Instablesubjectivities… • Twocharacteristics of currentsocietal transformations (Appadurai 1996): • Mass migration • Electronic mediation of everydaylife > Producing ’a new order of instability in the production of modernsubjectivities’

11. Keyinquiries… • Better understand the creativity/diversitywithwhichyouthengagewith the rapidlychanging media and communicationenvironments • Attention to the socio-economicrealities (human (in)security, material/non-material dimensions) • Unpacking ’Citizen tactics’: power relations, forms, means and spaces of resistance; citizen media)

12. Exploringagencythroughethnography: What’s the object of study? • ’From the local to the global, from the media to the streets, from the city to cyperspace, from the classroom to the rock concert, from the migrants to the traditionalcommunities, from the believers to the consumers, from the youth to the women, from the tv viewers to the voters: understanding the scenarios (spaces) wherecommunication flows, and understanding the keyplayersrequiresunderstanding the set-backs, the ruptures, the continuities and the mutations which the social dynamicbrings’ (Reguillo 2005:69)

13. Collaborative Research:4 interlinked research projects • Ethnography of 10 youngwomen in Temeke (neighbourhood of Dar es Salaam) • HouseholdSurvey (3-400) in Temeke • Qualitativeexploration of media useamongst ’youthprofiles’ across Tanzania • Policy contexts & civil society developments

14. YouthProfiles (I)A Femaclubmember in a semi-rural area • OutsideMwanza, secondaryschoolgirl • Verylimited media access • Nomobility – neverbeen to Dar • Traditionalgenderroles • Issues of sexualharassment • Fewworkopportunities • Ambitious: politician, lawyer, accountant..

15. YouthProfiles (II) Acommunitytheatre peer activist • Voluteeryouthleader in Temeke – lives & is from there, 27 yrsold, 14 years of peer educationexperience • EngagingwithhealthcommunicationactivitiesthroughpartnershipwithNGOs • Supportinglocal civil society development • Performingtheatrelocally, across country and in parliament • Close to newlyelectedyoung city councilmembers

16. YouthProfiles (III) The young blogger • What is really attractive about using social media for a lot of people, certainly me and a lot of my friends who use social media is the ability to express themselves, and the freedom to do so. Because, the internet is the final freedom, you know. There is no censorship there, there is no hierarchy of gender or age, you know, you don’t have to fear if you put your voice out there, especially if you are blogging anonymously or if you are tweeting anonymously. It is sort of the ultimate space for that freedom of expression and I feel strongly that it should be guarded. It should be promoted. It should not suffer from control, censorship, expertise, any of those sort of things that end up creating barriers to self-expression. So I would like to welcome you warmly to my blog, do pass by. I always read all responses, I try to respond to everybody when I have time and, welcome to the conversation (C, 2011)

17. Somenext steps • Furtherembed the analysis of youth’suse of Femina media products in social and culturalpractices • Furtherhistorisize the forms of public sphere engagement

18. Youth Agency and Public Sphere Engagement • Changing and diverse public spheres • Oral public spheres • Massmediated public spheres • The internet Wherenow? Mobile Distributed Public Spheres? (E.Hansen 2011) A fusion of physical and public spheres? Lessreflective, more spontaneous? More action-orientedapproaches?