The North-West University’s (NWU’s) Indigenous Language Media in Africa (ILMA) research niche area is gearing up for its 2020 conference on Social Media, Fake News and Hate Speech.

ILMA’s research director Prof Abiodun Salawu says the research entity’s goal is to research indigenous language media and traditional communication systems in Africa in terms of their nature, content, styles and organisational management, as well as their applications for democracy, development and corporate communication.

“It focuses on issues of African languages in the media, the contrast between public and private financing of the media, the media and identity, the media and politics, the internet, media and democracy, media and development as well as African traditional communication/media systems and their applications,” explains Prof Salawu.

A mere three years since becoming fully operational, ILMA boasts a number of achievements.

“Honours, master’s and PhD students have been carrying out research within the mandate of the entity, which received a grant of about R1 million from the National Research Foundation (NRF) for a project on African language media and the adoption of digital technologies,” says Prof Salawu.

The grant has been used for students’ bursaries and conference travels among others. Staff and students working within the project have attended and presented papers at local and international conferences.

Meanwhile, ILMA is preparing to host a conference on Social Media, Fake News and Hate Speech on the NWU’s campus in Mahikeng next year.

Click here to be part of the call for abstracts for the conference taking place on 27 and 28 June 2020.