The project aims to address three major gaps in the existing scholarship.
Firstly, I intend to move beyond a nation state-based approach to offer the first transnational study of the region. Broadcasters on both sides of the conflict sought to weaponize radio and win audiences that transcended the nation.
Secondly, I seek to undertake the first comparative historical survey of audience demographics and listening culture in Africa, which have received little scholarly attention.
Thirdly, while research on radio stations in the global south has traditionally been dominated by the late-colonial period, I wish to broaden the focus to include the independence era.
My research will be of significant interest to historians of media and decolonization and, since radio continues to be the most popular medium in Africa, scholars of contemporary media.
