Public Information and African Traditional Communication Delivery System

This paper is an analysis of how African traditional communication and the literature produced about it portray African traditional communication. The analysis premises an interest to ascertain whether the portrayal is in a perspective showing traditional media as capable of playing expected public information role. Drawing on contemporary literature, the paper concludes that much of the literature on the subject often portrays traditional communication in the objectionable linear conduit metaphor model of communication. The paper argues that this model is not conducive to the demands of an effective and robust public information requirement. The paper, drawing also on observations from proceedings at a local forum, found the positive modern-communication potentials lurking in aspects of traditional media like the social debating fora and the talking drums. The paper recommends immediate commencement of systematic refinement of these aspects since, in the belief of the paper, the communication potentials of these media as presently known are not enough for optimal relevance in the highly demanding public information market. SOPHIA: An African Journal of Philosophy Vol. 9 (1) 2006: pp. 62-67