Radio is 'Africa's medium', with an ability to transcend barriers to access, facilitate political debate and shape identities.

Contributors investigate the multiple roles of radio in the lives of African listeners across the continent. Some essays turn to the history of radio and its part in culture and politics. Others show how radio throws up new tensions, yet endorses social innovation and the making of new publics. A number of contributors look at radio's current role in creating listening communities that radically shift the nature of the public sphere. Yet others cover radio's central role in the emergence of informed publics in fragile national spaces, or in failed states. The book also highlights radio's links to the new media, its role in resistance to oppressive regimes, and points in several cases to the importance of African languages in building modern communities that embrace both local and global knowledge.

Liz Gunner is visiting Professor at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research; Dina Ligagais a lecturer in the Department of Media Studies, University of the Witwatersrand; Dumisani Moyo is Research and Publications Manager at the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa.

Southern Africa (South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, Zimbabwe & Swaziland): Wits University Press