Un/Making CSC

Un/Making CSC

A Critical Engagement with Communication for Social Changemaking
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About

This AHRC Fellowship investigates the implications of growing entrepreneurial discourses and capitalist values within communication for social change (CSC), with the overall aim to advance theory and practice on a justice-driven approach to communication for social 'changemaking'. The items exhibited were created by people actively engaged in social change and development rooted in communication processes (theatre for development, community media, digital technology, community mobilisation, and more), either as practitioners in local NGOs (in Malawi and India) or as community citizens.

Research

Communication and Social Change (CSC) is a field of scholarship and practice within communication studies concerned with the role of media and communication in processes of social change and development. Social entrepreneurship discourses and the...
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Exhibition

Explore and engage with the creative objects, poems and performances generated as part of the Un/Making CSC research project. Inspired by Paulo Freire’s notion of ‘political dreaming’, this exhibition showcases creative and critical examinations of...
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Poetic Relations

Poetic thinking can deepen our research. Poetry can reveal poignant insights, engaging in deeply creative and reflective processes, with a long association with social change, politics, social justice, and is particularly suited for exploring embodied,...
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Blog

Read the latest news and thought pieces from the Un/Making CSC project, including summaries of events, recent publications, new resources, and reflections from the field.  
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Power

Explore this diverse collection of metaphors that analyse imbalances of power, abuses of power, systems of power and histories of power in development.

Gallery

A digital photograph of a lego Giraffe eating a plant; a material metaphor to represent development as the giraffe always eating the fresh leaves at the top, leaving those at the bottom to wither.
Digital photo of a drawing of a crocodile in the lake. A material metaphor that represents the idea that donors are a lake, offering a reservoir of funds from which African and economically disadvantaged nations like Malawi can seek financial assistance. Although their support may not always come in the form of direct monetary aid, they often provide essential resources like food, similar to the lake's provision of fish. However, it's crucial to recognize that within this lake, there are also some predators such as crocodiles. Similarly, within donor funding, the presence of corruption and embezzlement by administrators is a constant concern, as the funds are readily available and susceptible to misuse.

Poetic Relations

Poetic thinking can deepen our research. Poetry can reveal poignant insights, engaging in deeply creative and reflective processes, with a long association with social change, politics, social justice, and is particularly suited for exploring embodied, experience and feelings 1, 2, 3, 4.

Following a stakeholder mapping process, we used Found Poetry / Blackout Poetry to analyse emails and reports to explore changing relationships. This diverse collection of poems speaks to themes of power, assumptions, instability, and development buzzwords, as well as togetherness, reflexivity and action, hope, and purpose. 

References

Blog

Call for Presentations/ Exhibits: They Call it Sustainability: financing, localization and other alternative futures for communication for development

Conference location: University of Malawi, Zomba Conference date: Wednesday May 15, 2024 Abstract deadline: Extended to Friday April 26th, 2024 What does sustainable development look …