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CfP: Symposium on Foreign Aid and Journalism in Latin America and Africa

Date

Symposium on Foreign Aid and Journalism in Latin America and Africa: Developing a Research Agenda

Leeds, UK – April 20, 2017

Call for Papers

Objective: This symposium will examine the influence and impact over the years of foreign aid on journalism practice and education. In so doing, it aims at developing a research agenda to examine issues and problems arising from the intersection between journalism, foreign aid, public diplomacy and foreign policy in historical and current contexts. Although the geographical focus is Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean, we will welcome scholarly contributions from other areas of the Global South. The format of the event is explorative and therefore full papers are not necessary at this stage. The idea is to discover opportunities for collaborative research including joint research grants and publications as well as other types of exchanges.

The symposium connects to the initial meeting of the AHRC / DfID funded Research Network “Development Assistance and independent journalism in Africa and Latin America”.

Questions that the project aims at addressing include (but are not limited to)

  • What has been the role of international development assistance in shaping journalistic approaches and practices in Africa and Latin America and what are the consequences?
  • What is the existing body of research concerning this issue?
  • What has been the role of development assistance in shaping journalism education in Africa and Latin America?
  • To what extent has international development assistance fostered or inhibited independent journalism in Africa and Latin America?
  • What are the similarities and differences in the direct and indirect impacts of development assistance of journalism from the US, UK and other donors?
  • What are the continuities and discontinuities concerning the impact of development assistance on journalism practice and education in the post-Cold War era?
  • How has international development assistance either directly or indirectly affecting journalism been perceived by journalists, politicians and the general public in the beneficiary countries?
  • What interventions could be developed to counter any negative consequences of these traditions?

Planned outcomes:

  • Edited Special Issue of a Journal
  • Edited collection of essays in a book.
  • Joint grant applications
  • Collaborative PhD scholarships

Convenors: Dr Jairo Lugo-Ocando & Dr. Chris Paterson, School of Media and Communication, University of Leeds

Send abstracts to: c.paterson@leeds.ac.uk

Deadline for 300-words abstracts and title: February 20, 2017

Please register here: https://ajn-symposium.eventbrite.co.uk