ABSTRACT
From rhetoric to persuasion, health to organisational, intercultural to interpersonal, mass communication to organisational communication, political to environmental, the field of communication studies has gone through various transformations over the years. New technologies have ensured that the way messages are transmitted in various communication disciplines such as public relations, journalism studies or film studies demonstrate a thorough appreciation of technology as a social instrument. The changes communication is currently undergoing know no boundaries. The discipline of communication studies is also facing critical changes in the non-Western world, particularly in Africa, where citizens are embracing digital technologies to improve not only interpersonal communication but also the state of their financial well-being. Based on these, this chapter introduces the book and focuses on rethinking communication and media studies in Nigeria from a methodological and theoretical perspective. The chapter hopes that with the methodological and theoretical reimagining of communication studies and higher education in Nigeria, universities in Africa, nay, Nigeria, will change from being universities in Africa or Nigeria and become African or Nigerian universities. In conclusion, it is hoped that communication programmes in Nigerian universities must therefore evolve and deliver on the areas of specialisation to support Nigeria’s and Africa’s developmental challenges.
