Johannesburg

Teaching and curricula on gender and women.s studies in Africa have predominantly focused on issues of development and/or policy, as indicated by a recent and ongoing survey carried out by the African Gender Institute. At the same time, scholars, practitioners and policy makers recognise that there is a “gap” between policy and its implementation.

Gender and Media in Africa: An Idea for a Curriculum

The course, Gender and Media in Africa takes an analytical and critical approach to the study of the media’s role in social constructions of gender with emphasis on the African experience. The first part of the course covers issues of the political-economy of the media and its relationship to gender representations in media texts. The second part is devoted to analyses, interpretations and evaluations of media content. It also looks at ways of challenging the images and messages regarding women and men that audiences receive on a daily basis from the media- this section concludes by looking at contemporary African gender and media activism and research.

Several universities and colleges in the North offer courses on media, gender and race studies. Although some of the topics discussed in these courses can be universally applied, African experiences, scholarship and knowledge is often not included in the recommended readings. The courses are modelled around realities and scholarship generated in those particular contexts.