Neocolonialism in the Sphere of Education and Mass Media in Africa: Transition from Cultural to Digital Imperialism

Abstract

For the majority of African countries dismantling of the colonial system in the middle of the Twentieth century resulted mostly in political independence with weak economical foundations. This reality paved their way from colonial to neocolonial dependence. Colonialism, in the modern sense, is not only the conquest and exploration of new territories, it is a way of thinking and interacting, a system of discursive operation of power. Neocolonialism, while pursuing the same goals as the classical colonial regime, was in many ways more complicated and sophisticated, affecting the fields of ideology, culture, science, education and information. In the 1970s, the thesis was put forward that cultural expansion was a kind of imperialism i.e. cultural imperialism. Since the late 1980s the term “cultural imperialism” has disappeared from the social sciences, while the phenomenon of indirect control of former colonies has remained. The question of the independence of the cultural and information sphere in Africa has not been resolved to these days. The countries of the African continent throughout the twentieth century were not equal participants in information interactions, acting either as objects of consideration and study or as consumers of information. Although in the first decade of the twenty-first century Africa experienced a boom in mobile communication and social networking, and the widespread diffusion of information technology inspired optimism and hope for a fair exchange of information, at that time there was talk of imperialism again, but this time of informational or digital imperialism. Although the term is not yet universally accepted, it represents a form of neo-colonialism aimed at the continued exploitation of African peoples.