ABSTRACT
Most journalistic work – print, visual and audio – in African languages is conceived and produced following the Western model, which appears today as universal. However, every culture has its own way of storytelling, the methods and modes of which are informed by cultural particularities. The telling of stories in narrative structures that do not align with the cultures of the intended audience is subversively disruptive. Drawing on narrative theory, as well as Bourdieu’s (1991, Language and Symbolic Power, Cambridge: Harvard University Press) and Vygotsky’s (1966, Thought and Language, Cambridge: MIT Press) understanding of the power of language for knowledge creation and identity formation, this chapter highlights an aspect of the unsustainability of journalism in African languages: the Western mode of storytelling is simply transferred into African languages, the outcome of which feels artificial to the broad audience. The chapter then proposes a solution: today’s journalism in African languages should tap into the traditional cultural ways of sharing information and then adapt these techniques to the contemporary context. Through this analysis, this chapter shows how African language journalism can account for the cultural context to better match the ‘African way of storytelling’ and thus become more successful and sustainable.
