https://cris.library.msu.ac.zw//handle/11408/34 2026-04-10T10:45:29Z 2026-04-10T10:45:29Z Ncube, Lyton Refilwe Whitney Mofokeng Chibuwe, Albert Allen Munoriyarwa Antonette Kakujaha- Murangi https://cris.library.msu.ac.zw//handle/11408/6643 2025-07-17T11:12:05Z 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: ‘Mind the gap’: artificial intelligence and journalism training in Southern African journalism schools Authors: Ncube, Lyton; Refilwe Whitney Mofokeng; Chibuwe, Albert; Allen Munoriyarwa; Antonette Kakujaha- Murangi Abstract: This article examines journalism schools (J-schools) responses to the Artificial Intelligence (AI) ‘disruption’. It critically provides an exploratory examination of how J-Schools in Southern Africa are responding to the AI wave in their journalism curriculums. We answer the question: How are Southern African J-Schools responding to AI in their curriculums? Using a disruptive innovation theoretical lens and through documentary review of university teaching initiatives and accredited journalism curriculums, augmented by in-depth interviews, we demonstrate that AI has opened up new horizons for journalism training in multi-dimensional ways. However, this has brought challenges, including covert forms of resistance to AI integration by some Journalism educators. Furthermore, resource constraints and the obduracy of J-schools’ curriculums also contribute to the slow introduction of AI in J-schools. We argue that lack of clarity on what AI is and what can be taught about AI within J-Schools, as well as fear of the unknown has led to a trust deficit among journalism instructors. We further argue that with better training and exposure, journalism educators in Southern Africa can leverage AI technologies to strengthen journalism training.

2025-01-01T00:00:00Z Ncube, Lyton Refilwe Whitney Mofokeng Chibuwe, Albert Allen Munoriyarwa Antonette Kakujaha- Murangi Zvenyika Eckson Mugari Chipo Hungwe James Makoma https://cris.library.msu.ac.zw//handle/11408/6418 2024-12-11T12:49:33Z 2024-09-20T00:00:00Z

Title: Keeping African women in social reproduction roles: a systematic qualitative review of literature on post-FTLRP Zimbabwe Authors: Zvenyika Eckson Mugari; Chipo Hungwe; James Makoma Abstract: The capitalist sytem has been underwritten by unpaid social reproduction labour mostly provided by women. This article deploys social reproduction theory (SRT) to systematically review scholarly literature on Zimbabwe's fast track land reform programme (FTLRP) published since 2011. Research evidence indicates reasonable improvement on women's access to and control of land, but whether or not FTLPRP led to a more egalitarian division of social reproduction labour remains to be researched. The paper concludes by proposing a new research agenda on the shifting boundaries between workplace and home, paid and unpaid labour, for women on post-FTLRP farms. Description: This paper was developed from a paper presented at the African Studies Association of the UK (ASAUK) biennial conference at the University of Birmingham, 11–13 September 2018, courtesy of a generous Travel Grant from Midlands State University’s Research Board.

2024-09-20T00:00:00Z Zvenyika Eckson Mugari Chipo Hungwe James Makoma Peace Mukwara https://cris.library.msu.ac.zw//handle/11408/6333 2024-10-08T13:42:11Z 2023-08-05T00:00:00Z

Title: Animation and YouTube as Alternative and Counterhegemonic Digital Public Sphere in Zimbabwe Authors: Peace Mukwara Abstract: Zimbabwe has over the years experienced a surge in internet usage for political discourse. This has disrupted the governments’ monopolistic hold on public sphere discourses. The increase in the use of social media for political communication has necessitated the need for critical reflections on the use of new media. This paper investigates the emergence of an alternative digital public sphere (DPS) in Zimbabwe, which has subsequently proven to be counterhegemonic. It analyses how democratic forces conspire and contest official state propaganda and assert themselves as viable counter publics. The study examines animation texts, its form and its use of covert and overt aesthetics as tools that helped critique and navigate a chaotic terrain during the ‘crisis period’ in which the state censored critical or oppositional art and elite interests hijacked other forms of critical art and alternative media. The study argues that the DPS has promoted alternative discourses to those of the official public sphere. While the Subaltern counter publics have used alternative digital public spaces to question the official consensus, they have instead emerged as undemocratic platforms promoting and perpetuating the same hate and binary narratives that it accuses the state of proliferating.

2023-08-05T00:00:00Z Peace Mukwara Albert Chibuwe https://cris.library.msu.ac.zw//handle/11408/6323 2024-10-02T13:59:52Z 2024-06-23T00:00:00Z

Title: Fake News as Political Communication: On Fake News, Digital Media and the Struggle for Hegemony in Post-Mugabe Zimbabwe Authors: Albert Chibuwe Abstract: Fake news has long been used in propaganda, but the proliferation of digital media reinvigorated it. In Zimbabwe, fake news peaks during elections and on the eve of international summits the country’s leadership will be attending. The ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change Alliance (MDC-A), which re-branded to Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), deploy fake news against each other. These two are the main contestants for power, and they dominate Parliament and Senate. ZANU-PF has the majority in the legislature whilst the opposition CCC dominates Urban Councils. They are permanently engaged in a battle for hegemony. Informed by the three dimensions of fake news as a genre, a label and dramaturgia, the paper interrogates how, when, where and why ZANU-PF and MDC-A deployed fake news in the post-Mugabe era. Data were gathered through archival research and virtual ethnography, and the findings show that both parties used the three dimensions of fake news in intra-party and inter-party struggles, and the battle to influence regional and global public opinion. Fake news was used to confuse the public and discredit the opponent.

2024-06-23T00:00:00Z Albert Chibuwe