Sociopolitical transformation and the media environment: Writing Africa into Modernity

In this article the authors develop a critical strategic analysis of the term ‘African Renaissance’, which has become current in the discourse since first enunciated by Nelson Mandela. With the inauguration of Thabo Mbeki as Mandela's successor, the idea of an African Renaissance has taken root in the South African intellectual realm. The article considers the differences between ‘Renaissance’ as a retrospective reconstruction of a specific history of modernity, and the idea of ‘Renaissance’ as a projective strategy. Using the transformation of elements within South Africa's newspaper media from the 1980s into the period after 1994, the article argues that within the larger global transformation after 1988 there has arisen a need to reconceptualize modernity in terms of people's consciousness of a record. Comparing South Africa's transition from apartheid with Iran's transition to Islamic Republic, the authors conclude that without a multivocal media landscape the seeds of democratic government will wither.