ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the concept of participation and how it relates to community radio. Participation is an important underlying concept of community radio, which is associated with democratised media access and blurred lines between the producers and consumers of content. This chapter, however, applies a critical lens to the supposedly participatory nature of the medium to interrogate how participation is framed in both community radio and development literature, and how the literature aligns with practice. There is a form of screening that takes place due to structural limitations including discursive limitations like the spectacle of development, as well as contextual limitations on who can participate and how. What emerges from these discussions is a form of participation that is best described as “limited”.
