Communitas

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Communitas is a nationally-accredited academic journal publishing scientific articles in the context of Community Communication, Information Impact and related disciplines. The primary aim is the promotion of a better understanding of communication-related issues which affect all South African communities.

Alternative title(s): Journal for Community Communication and Information Impact | Joernaal vir Gemeenskapskommunikasie en Inligtingsimpak

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ISSN 2415-0525 (Online), ISSN 1023-0556 (Print)

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Now showing 1 - 20 of 193

Open Access
The 2011 local elections campaigns in the Tlokwe Municipality, North-West Province: enhancing participatory governance?
(Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2011) Fourie, Lynnette
The South African Local Government Municipal Systems Act (Act 32 of 2000) requires participatory governance. Although this Act is not concerned with electoral participation in the first instance, it is argued that it also sets the tone for electoral communication. In the spirit of participatory governance it could be expected of political parties to inform the electorate about issues relevant to local government, stimulate debate, motivate voters to participate in the elections and promote democratic values. Against this background, this article endeavours to investigate to what extent the campaigns of political parties in the 2011 local elections displayed the context of local developmental government and enhanced participatory governance. A qualitative content analysis was done of the election material (manifestos, posters, television advertisements and pamphlets) of the ANC, DA, FF+ and Cope in the Tlokwe Municipality. It was found that all the parties adhered to the spirit of and actively promoted local developmental government in their manifestos, although they did so to a lesser extent in the more popular media (posters, television advertisements and pamphlets). It was concluded that these messages were not harmful to the sustainability of local developmental democracy.
Open Access
Addressing national issues through communication campaigns: reflections on LoveLife and Proudly South African
(University of the Free State, 2003) Bechan, Nirvana
This article considers how communication campaigns are addressing two critical issues in South African communities in order to bring about positive change. LoveLife and Proudly South African are perhaps the most publicised national campaigns in the land and they employ very different strategies in communicating messages. LoveLife is aimed at teenagers and takes on a very trendy and provocative approach with its publicity. Proudly South African on the other hand is aimed at reaching the South African public at large and takes the approach of building personal partnerships in the various sectors of industry and community. It is suggested that if any national communication campaign is to be successful, then thorough research on the issues and targeted publics need to be conducted.
Open Access
All politics is local: suggestions for an editorial policy on political news for community media
(Department of Communication, University of Free State, 2011) Marais, Willemien; Linström, Margaret
In South Africa, the three spheres of government perform distinct functions in terms of the Constitution. By spreading the responsibilities of government across national, provincial and local structures, the Constitution ensures that government does not become too far removed from citizens. If local government is the closest level of interaction for citizens, then media at community level provide the link for that interaction. It is against this backdrop that this article views the quote widely attributed to American congressman Tip O'Neil: All politics is local. Political news has social importance for virtually everyone (Gelman 2011). On the flip side of the coin, people are what matter in terms of community media (Lauterer 1995: 9). This implies that even at grassroots level, media should have an editorial policy on political reporting if they want their editorial content to be relevant to the community they are serving. This loyalty to the needs of the community is the essence of media at grassroots level (Milne, Rau, Du Toit & Mdlongwa 2006: 3-4). This article reports on a qualitative content analysis of the existing editorial policies of community radio stations and newspapers in the Mangaung area in the Free State. Based on these findings, suggestions are made for a framework to draw up an editorial policy on political news for community media.
Open Access
An analysis of successful community develoment communication: missionaries, max-neef and the universal need for transcendence
(Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2008) Ingle, Mark
This article attempts to isolate a “sufficient condition” for development communication to succeed. It juxtaposes two case studies - the 19th Century Christian missionaries as a developmental success story, and the malign influence of Soviet ideology as a developmental failure - and analyses these case studies in the light of a variety of socalled “alternative theories” of development. Human Scale Development, as articulated by Manfred Max-Neef, emerges as being the most instructive of these paradigms. Max-Neef sought to identify the key “satisfiers” which would enable true development to occur. It is argued that many of the processes and activities that typically accompanied the communication of the message of Christianity to southern African answer to the “satisfiers” that Max-Neef's schema calls for. The enquiry further argues that humankind's fundamental need for transcendence is the only need which, if satisfied, will of necessity culminate in true individual and, by extension, community development. This line of thinking ultimately draws its inspiration from the Ancient Greek concept of eros which is seen to have informed the early missionary movement's message of hope and faith. * Mark
Open Access
Aspects of the communication reality in South Africa
(University of the Free State, 2002) Terblanche, F. H.
Abstract not available
Open Access
Aspekte van Fisher se narratiewe teorie as vertrekpunt vir 'n retoriese kritiekbenadering tot die De La Rey-liriek?
(Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2007) Terblanche, Lydie; Terblanche, F. H.
In this discussion, it is pointed out that Bok van Blerk’s song, De la Rey has had an unusual impact on a large number of South Africans. It unleashed a fierce debate in the media in which interested parties offered divergent explanations in sometimes reasonable and sometimes malicious ways for the reasons why De la Rey grabbed and fascinated people. Against the background of the turbulence in the De la Rey debate, one may ask, from the perspective of the science of persuasive communication, about the reasons that contribute to the fact that the De la Rey lyric has such an enormous power of persuasion. Seeing that Fisher (1987) has addressed the role of both logical reason and value-laden good reasons in his narrative paradigm theory, this discussion takes up aspects of his theory as it pertains to the abovementioned question. Attention will be paid to the ontological, epistemological and axiological presuppositions of the theory. Relevant basic, structural and evaluative concepts are explained. Although the theory is useful in various ways in the relevant field, it is especially the criteria for narrative rationality, i.e. the requirements that holds for narrative probability and narrative fidelity, that arguably can be used as a starting point for a rhetorical-critical approach to rhetorical acts in the lyric of De la Rey.
Open Access
Aspekte van luistervaardigheid in gemeenskapsonderrig
(University of the Free State, 2000) Van Niekerk, A.
It has been said that it is the province of knowledge to speak, and the province of wisdom to listen. This statement emphasises the importance of the ability to listen effectively in any communicative encounter, but it does not clarify why the ability to listen is of utmost importance in the communication process. The article sets out by way of argumentation to address the following critical issues: What factors influence listening behaviour? Who is a skilful listener? What is the profile of an effective listener in an academic environment?
Open Access
Aspekte van narratiewe kommunikasie as retoriese strategie binne prediking
(Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2013) Van der Walt, Marésa; Marais, Willemien; De Wet, Johann C.
Human beings are susceptible to the rhetorical power of narrative communication. Narrative communication is an organisational element that helps people to make sense of the world they live in. Rhetoric is the application of reason to imagination to bring the human will into movement. In the world of communication within the Christian philosophy, narrative communication can be used as a rhetorical strategy. This article discusses the different aspects of the use of narrative communication as rhetorical strategy within preaching. Both narrative techniques and narrative style elements can be used to contribute to the rhetorical effectiveness of a sermon. The use of “story elements” and “style elements” qualify a text (sermon) as “narrative”. The rhetorical success of narrative communication when used in sermons was tested in traditional Afrikaans-speaking Apostolic Faith Mission congregations in Bloemfontein. Churchgoers completed questionnaires to convey their experience and opinion of the use of narrative communication in preaching during 12 sermons. The results were overwhelmingly positive.
Open Access
Brand linkages: winners, losers and how to measure these
(Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2016) Nhedzi, Abyshey; Overton-de Klerk, Nina; Bester, Tim
Brand owners constantly seek strategies to improve their brand’s popularity. One such strategy is to seek a co-operative relationship with another brand, termed a “brand linkage”. This study represents one of the first attempts at empirical and experimental research on brand linkages in a South African marketing communication environment. One such brand linkage between Engen (a fuel service station) and Woolworths (a speciality food retailer) is examined. Results showed that awareness of the brand linkage did have a marked effect on the overall rating of Engen. Implementing a pretest–posttest control group design, results also showed that there were statistically significant differences between pre- and post-intervention ratings of Engen (the host brand) for the groups that were exposed to a campaign depicting the brand linkage. The research provides practitioners with a measuring instrument that can be replicated easily and provides insight for marketers on leveraging the value of brand linkages.
Open Access
Brand storytelling: the case of Coca-Cola 's journey corporate website
(Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2015) Du Plessis, Charmaine
Brand storytelling is an evolving branding technique which involves continuous narratives about the brand through publishing and sharing useful brand-related content with consumers. Publishing content no longer includes publishing in traditional print media only, but also via electronic and social media in various media formats and on different platforms. In doing so, marketers endeavour to engage with consumers by creating consumer experiences through brand-related content. Non-media organisations have thus also become publishers of their brands although there are no clear-cut guidelines but numerous perspectives on how to communicate brand content by means of storytelling. This study explores, identifies and explains types of consumer experience which were evident on the Coca-Cola Journey corporate website, one of the world’s leading brands at the time of the study. A theoretical perspective is adopted that borrows from and is also adapted from both media management and marketing communication. Brand storytelling is theoretically delineated and then applied to the proposed types of consumer experience which could be created through content for media organisations, as put forward by Peck and Malthouse (2011). The content on the Coca-Cola website is narrowed down for analysis and then explained using this perspective. The findings offer insight into the type of brand stories that marketers could consider when drafting content marketing strategies for nonmedia organisations.
Open Access
Can public relations put the trust back in organisations?
(Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2009) Venter, Ben-Piet; Van der Merwe, Johann
The last two years have seen top South African and international companies being accused or criticised for activities that do not serve the interests of their stakeholders. A sad result of this and other organisational philandering is that the name of public relations – already tainted – is sullied even more. The ethics of organisational management, the ethical impacts of public relations, and the ethics of public relations practitioners are addressed in this article. In deliberating the sticky ethics issue, the current role of public relations in the organisation as well as public relations education in South Africa are also discussed. It is suggested that the value chain can be used to assist public relations in overcoming its uncertain position in the ethics debacle by firstly placing it firmly in the organisation’s value chain as a support activity alongside those of human resources, firm infrastructure, and technology development; secondly that the placement of public relations as support function in the value chain is a good argument for the allocation to public relations of its rightful place in the organisation’s formal chain of command; and thirdly, given the acceptance that public relations is a support function not only to marketing and sales, but also to inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, and service, it becomes necessary to revise the educational curriculum of public relations students.
Open Access
Can social communication be used as a strategy to enhance teaching and learning of life sciences? Perceptions of student teachers
(Department of Commnication Science, University of the Free State, 2012) Setlalentoa, Wendy
Social communication in the current context of an informational and technological society has become indispensable globally and in South Africa. This article examines how social communication can be used as a strategy to enhance teaching and learning of Life Sciences amongst student teachers at an institution of higher learning. Focus group discussions were held with senior Life Sciences student teachers, who were allowed an opportunity to tell their own stories of how they were able or unable to use social communication as it prevailed for them mediating the teaching and learning of Life Sciences. Social communication networks in education for example are increasingly used as a mode of delivery of education, but recently there have been some initiatives to establish how it can be used effectively in improving academic performance of students. Globally students are using social networks such as Twitter, MXit, Facebook, etc. although the majority of learners use this social means of communication for other purposes than education. The findings indicate that social communication enhances teaching and learning and regular usage thereof promotes learner interest in Life Sciences. Although there exists a strong desire to integrate social communication in the teaching of Life Sciences, there are many barriers. Accessibility, confidence and competence are critical components of technology; resources, effective professional development, and technical support need to be provided to student teachers.
Open Access
A case for African culture in journalism curricula
(Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2009) Sesanti, Simphiwe
This article examines the need to teach African culture as a module in journalism schools based on the African continent. Assuming that journalists need to be cognisant of the cultural environments in which they operate, this article argues that failure on the part of journalists to be culture-aware results in inaccurate journalism that is loaded with journalists’own cultural baggage and bias. Using cultural framing as a theoretical basis, the article shows how ignorance of African culture by journalists reporting on indigenous African communities has manifested itself. It is argued that journalistic misrepresentation of Africans perpetuates the colonial project of the dehumanisation of Africans of projecting them as inferior beings – mentally, spiritually and physically. Journalists educated about diverse cultures are more likely to link and create common understanding among culturally diverse communities than journalists who are ignorant of others’cultural norms.
Open Access
Changing notions of political community through subnational communication
(University of the Free State, 2004) Hudson, Heidi
This article seeks to address the question whether, in the face of growing dominance of globalisation, political communities will become less nationalistic and state-centric. The focus is on conceptually redefining the traditional notion of political community by looking at how transnational community is formed through social and political communication. After outlining the definitional minefield of concepts three metaphors or images of transnational community-building, namely transactionalism, cosmopolitanism and neo-medievalism are discussed. From there, the dynamics of the subnational external relations of provinces and municipalities are examined. Specific attention is paid to the Free State province and the Local Municipality of Mangaung and the way in which basic political values of citizenship and rights are communicated and inculcated.
Open Access
Cinema and communication: 'cinelogic' and 'cinaesthesis'
(Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2010) Olivier, Bert
The article explores the various ways in which cinema “communicates” meaning, making use of the five materials of film, namely three of an auditory nature and two of a visual nature: dialogue, soundtrack (music) and noise on the one hand, and images and graphic elements on the other. This is not all there is to it, because all these materials are unavoidably appropriated by filmmakers in the guise of various signifiers, each with its own signified, along the trajectories of two signifying axes of meaning, to wit, the syntagmatic and the paradigmatic, respectively, on both of which certain codes are audiovisually inscribed. But even a thorough overview of these elements of meaning-generation is not sufficient to understand the way that film communicates – one has to follow Deleuze in his radical philosophy of the cinema, and scrutinise the difference between the cinema of the movement-image, and the cinema of the time-image. This article claims that this complex intertwinement of signifying elements is the way that film communicates. Relevant films will be discussed to demonstrate how this happens.
Open Access
Communicating feminism to the community: the continuing relevance of feminism fifty years after 9 August 1956
(Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2006) Pretorius, Engela
The history of women in South Africa is the history of their oppression due to patriarchy - a system of domination which still persists in South Africa, and has done so since precolonial times. However, in the case of black women, it has been justly argued that under apartheid they suffered from the triple oppression of racism, sexism and classism which characterises the country's history. Although opposition to patriarchy has not so much been in evidence among black women in this country, they do indeed have a history of strong opposition to the politicisation of race. This article traces the historical development of feminism in this country, focusing on African feminism(s) and its multiple manifestations. The role of feminism in the liberation struggle is then explicated by first describing the variety and diversity of patriarchies, followed by an exposition of the surfacing of political consciousness among women in this country. The article concludes that 50 years after the momentous event of 9 August 1956, an active and feminist voice in civil society is still needed due to factors such as the fact that the struggle for gender equity has to a large extent become a state-led venture, and because of what is perceived as a hardening of patriarchies.
Open Access
Communicating masculinity: attitudes of adolescent males in rural South Africa to rape and gender relations
(Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2014) Nedombeloni, Hulisani; Oyedemi, Toks
Rape is a national crisis in South Africa. The high prevalence of rape is evidenced by reports that a woman is raped every four minutes. Various studies have explored attitudes of adolescents to rape; however, they tend to focus on urban, township and college youth with the attitudes of rural boys almost neglected. Drawing on the socialisation theory, it is assumed that the way a boy is socialised through communicative practices at home, school, among the peer group, and in society at large impacts on his attitudes to gender and rape. Through focus group interviews with adolescent boys in Duthuni village in the Limpopo province of South Africa, this study confirms that cultural communicative practices about gender, such as interpersonal communication in family, shape the socialisation of these boys, which influence the acceptance of gender roles displayed in the social construction of masculinity and femininity. This consequently influences their perceptions of rape, and the social efforts to combat rape.
Open Access
Communicating paradigmatic intellectual orientations: the mediating role of persistent theme
(Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2015) Strauss, D. F. M.
All humans have the capacity to live in organised societies and to communicate the basic patterns of such societies to forthcoming generations. If they are accompanied by persistent themes operative within intellectual traditions and passed on to subsequent intellectual trends, then the ongoing power of paradigmatic orientations is demonstrated. This article focuses on the historically mediated communication of two opposing but powerful paradigmatic views on the relation between human beings and human society. Atomistic or individualistic approaches will be contrasted with holistic or universalistic views. The historical connection will be traced as persistent themes present in the paradigmatic stance of Greek thinkers (such as Callicles, Protagoras, Plato and Aristotle), medieval intellectuals (Augustine and Thomas Aquinas), transitional figures (William of Ockham, Jean of Jandun and Marsilius of Padua), modern thinkers (Hobbes, Locke and Kant), the switch from Enlightenment rationalism and individualism to the irrationalistic individualism of early Romanticism, and the full-blown Romantic emphasis on an irrationalistic universalism (the transpersonal national spirit of each people, Volk – Von Schlegel, Herder, Hegel and Fichte). After considering the subsequent communication of some relevant turns during the 19th and 20th century, it will be briefly pointed out that human nature does not determine societal structures, just as little as one or another societal entity (the Volk, state or church) embraces individuals or the other societal collectivities and communities fully as integral parts. When persistent paradigmatic themes are communicated to later scholars (Holton) amidst changing historical contexts, the directing power of diverging basic motives and the inevitability of communicative historical continuity is amply demonstrated.
Open Access
Communication challenges facing RSFM (Radio Shimla)
(University of the Free State, 2004) Meyer, Patrick
Abstract not available
Open Access
The communication challenges of issue management in a postmodern world: a case study of the South Durban Industrial Basin
(Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2016) Mersham, Gary
This article describes the failure of issue management communication in resolving an enduring pollution crisis stretching over two decades in South Africa’s South Durban Industrial Basin (SDIB). A crisis of responsibility has arisen from a postmodern, neoliberal order. Concerns of residents are overridden in favour of nationally significant economic growth objectives. As a result “local” issues are communicated by global coalitions seeking environmental justice through modernist notions of “science” communicated in a postmodern, global context. The lack of public confi dence, trust and the unmet expectations of participation in the environmental decision-making of government agencies and corporations is revealed. Local mobilisations look to broader spaces of engagement, including international activist organisations and international media as the unresolved crisis is deepened by state coercion and industry intransigence.