"New ways of telling" : African textual forms and dissemination in the age of digital media

Abstract

In the age of digital media, creators are using the versatile nature of information and communication technologies and the ubiquity of the web to publish and distribute texts, circumventing traditional gatekeepers such as publishing institutions. In Africa, where web access and digitisation are relatively new, storytellers are eagerly exploring new mediums and the possibilities that they provide for African narratives and African representation. This thesis looks at the digital platforms of the African Storybook Reader, the FunDza Literacy Project, and Long Story SHORT, as well as Dudu Busani-Dube's novel Hlomu the Wife, which first gained popularity on a blog platform. It examines three different web series, An African City, The Foxy Five, and Tuko Macho, as well as a transmedia documentary, Love Radio. The texts are grouped into literatures disseminated from digital platforms, localised narratives that explore the urban African woman, and narratives that make use of participatory culture. These are texts that make use of digital tools and platforms to create and disseminate African stories, making diverse and indigenous narratives more easily accessible to both local and global audiences. This thesis argues that digitisation and the global nature of the internet have created opportunities for Africans to become producers and exporters of indigenous information and representation, rather than passive consumers of imported knowledge, or subjects of external characterisation.