Abstract

AKAMBADI, Jessie; NOSKE-TURNER, Jessica  and  MAGALASI, Mufunanji. Paralympics as a Tool for Communication for Social Change: Audience Perceptions, Affect and the Social Change Potential in Rural Malawi. Media & Jornalismo [online]. 2023, vol.23, n.42, pp.107-123.  Epub June 30, 2023. ISSN 1645-5681.  https://doi.org/10.14195/2183-5462_42_6.

The Paralympics was broadcast in Sub-Saharan Africa for the first time during the 2020 Tokyo Games. This offered a unique opportunity to approach this phenomenon from a communication for social change perspective. Specifically, in this paper we conceive of the Paralympic broadcasts as a form of edutainment. This novel conceptual intervention brings attention to, not only how audiences interpret and make meaning from Paralympic media content, but also to the dialogical processes required to engage communities in processes of change. Drawing on findings from a four-year action research project, we explore the extent to which the Paralympics can be a useful and relevant platform for addressing disability stigma. We argue that mobile screenings of the Paralympics created a critical awareness, new perspectives on disability rights, and served to spark ideas for collective action.

Keywords : communication for social change; communication for development; edutainment; paralympics; disability; Malawi.

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