Humanitarianism Africa Media

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

This course will examine the nexus between the humanitarian crisis in Africa and the media through a case study format. It will explore the media-humanitarian relationship in four periods: the period immediately after independence in the 1960s, the Cold War, which lasted until the late 1980s, during the multiparty period, and the War on Terror, which started after September 11. The course will also explore the changing humanitarian landscape from its early bootstrapped days in Biafra when it was purely driven by charitable instinct to its present professionalized project. Likewise, the media landscape has witnessed a radical shift; the newspaper was the primary media, especially photos, during the Biafra conflict. Ethiopia's 1984/5 famine was TV's moment, but in Ethiopia in 2020, social media was the principal site of engagement. This course is taught by Mr. Abdullahi Boru Halakhe, senior advocate for East and Southern Africa at Refugees International