COM 2012 Volume 17

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The media and Africa's on-going quest for a true humanity: a Bikoian approach
(Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2012) Sesanti, Simphiwe
Upon their arrival on the African continent, among their first acts of denuding and attenuating Africans, European colonialists targeted African culture as their casualty in order to kill Africans’ self-consciousness. European culture was made a point of reference and African culture was regarded as something negative and primitive, resulting in Africans despising themselves and worshipping everything European. Aiding European imperialism in denigrating the African image and personality was the European-owned media. In reaction to the imperialists’ project, the Black Consciousness Movement martyr, Bantu Steve Biko advanced the view that in order to liberate Africans, self-consciousness and self-esteem had to be restored to Africans. In his view this had to be done through the act of African cultural reclamation. In this article the author interrogates the concept of African cultural reclamation and the role the media can play in order to fulfil Africa’s quest for a true humanity as envisaged by Biko.