ABSTRACT
The media are fundamental to the transformation, development, socio-cultural and economic contestations in Africa. To understand Africa, one needs a critical appraisal of the media as institutional, economic and cultural domains that shape and influence African identity, representations and being. This ontological situatedness of Africa with the media reinforces the critical role of the media in the historiography and cultural sculpting of Africa. From the colonial origin to current global digital order with its economic base, the media have become a dominant sphere of economic, social and political activities in Africa, and play essential roles in deepening democratic principles. There are some critical themes that need to be recentered in the scholarly analysis of the media in Africa today. Amongst many themes, we need to refocus on African media historiography, engage current debates about decolonization of the media in practice and scholarship, theorize the media in Africa, examine media in Africa within the global media sphere, assert media freedom in democracy, evaluate the digital turn in media, and critique the structure of media ownership within the current fragmented tiers of media structure. All these are essential because they shape how culture, identity, representation, participation, nationalism, diversity, and other socio-economic descriptors impact what it means to be African through the lens of its media.
