Partners and people

The New Media in a changing Africa project is fortunate to have a collaborative consortium of 6 institutional partners, 9 researchers in 5 countries. 

 To better understand the role of media in development, the New Media in a changing Africa project is fortunate to have a collaborative consortium of 6 institutional partners. These partners embed the project in academic communities of excellence and provide the research with multi-disciplinary and inter-national perspectives grounded in institutions both within and outside the African continent. The quality of a project depends not only on the collaborative efforts made by ambitious and competent institutional partners, but also that of individual people. All 9 researchers within these 7 institutions, each with excellence in qualifications and prior experiences related to the projects specific themes and locations (Botswana, Zambia, DR Congo and South Africa), will work actively to accomplish various tasks in the project. 

Researchers

Jo Helle-Valle Ph.D in social anthropology is professor in Development Studies at Oslo University College, Norway. He is the projects principal investigatior (PI) and in charge of the project as a whole. He is also head of the research in Botswana, that builds on his prior fieldwork there 25 years ago and is undertaken in collaboration with University of Botswana and University of Oslo. Helle-Valle will in addition be a Visiting Scholar at Harvard University, USA, year 2016 to work academically with Professor Jean Comaroff on the project.

 Ardis Storm-Mathisen, PhD. In sociology and is senior researcher at Centre for Gender studies at the University of Oslo, Norway. She is also a senior researcher on media at the Norwegian National Institute for Consumer Research (SIFO). She is co-researcher in Botswana (WP 2) with specific tasks connected to gender, sociality, children, family and educational issues in the project as a whole (lenke til cv).

Monageng Mogalagwe, Ph. D in sociology and is Assistant Professor and Head of Department of Sociology, University of Botswana. He is co-researcher in Botswana with particular tasks connected to the survey and to issues of sociality; the state, labour and social life in Botswana.

Letshwiti Tutwane ,PhD in media regulatory Law and Policy and is Lecturer at Department of Media Studies, University of Botswana. He is co-researcher in Botswana with particular tasks connected to social media analysis and issues of concerns and sociality.

Gabriel Faimau, Ph.D in sociology and is lecturer in Sociology at University of Botswana. Faimau is co-researcher in Botswana with particular tasks connected to the survey and to issues of regligion, labour and social media.

Wendy Willems, PhD in Media and Film Studies and is Assistant Professor at Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics, UK. She has worked extensively on issues related to cirtical approaches to development, new media and social change and has long fieldwork experience from Zambia. Willems is head of research in Zambia and will work on specific tasks connected to issues of economy and sociality in the project as a whole.

Katrien Pype, Ph. D in social anthropology, is Birmingham Fellow at the University of Birmingham, UK and assistant professor at the Institute for Anthropological Research in Africa, University of Leuven, Belgium. Pype is an experienced media researcher and has done extensive prior fieldwork in DR. Congo. She is head of the research in DR Congo  and will in addition work on specific tasks connected to gender, sociality, cultural concerns such as health and religion and mobility in the project as a whole.

Jean Comaroff , Ph.D in social anthropology, professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University and of  Anthropology, Oppenheimer fellow in African Studies . She is a famous scholar who has undertaken extensive fieldwork in the southern Africa and will be working in close collaboration with Jo Helle-Valle (PI) when he is Visiting Scholar at Harvard and the Post doc at Cape Town University.

Fiona Ross, Ph. D. social Antropology, Head of department of Social Anthopology, University of Cape town. Main task is to host the Post-Doctoral Fellow to the project.

Nanna Schneidermann PhD in social anthropology is head of research in South Africa in the MediAfrica project. She has done research on youth and fame in the growing Ugandan music economy with a particular focus on networks and value creation in urban settings. As post-doctoral fellow, she will investigate aspects of new media practices related to health, family networks and cultural concerns. In 2016/2017 Nanna Schneidermann will be a visiting fellow at the department of Social Anthropology at University of Cape Town.