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Navigating the global-local nexus in Indigenous African language television.

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Bibliographic Details
Title: Navigating the global-local nexus in Indigenous African language television.
Authors: Yin, FengYi1 fengyi.yin@temple.edu
Source: Critical Studies in Media Communication. Jun2026, Vol. 43 Issue 2, p140-156. 17p.
Subject Terms: *Mass media, African languages, Economics, Television
Geographic Terms: China
Abstract: While ex-colonial languages dominate the media landscape in sub-Saharan Africa, Indigenous African language channels on transnational television platforms are thriving. The success of these channels challenges the common idea that Indigenous African language media face obstacles reaching a substantial consumer base and raises the question of how these transnational channels pursue local audiences. Drawing on interviews and scholarship in global media studies and linguistic politics, this study examines channels in the Swahili and Hausa languages on a major television platform originating from China, identifying two localization approaches—pursuing attractive Indigenousness and gatekeeping unsuitable foreignness—employed to make the channels culturally resonant. The commercial interests-driven decolonial practices prioritize local languages, knowledge, and ideologies within a media environment that has historically favored ex-colonial languages and global flows. Nevertheless, the pursuit of localization presents complexities and ambivalence, as it is often limited and instrumentalized due to the political economy of media institutions navigating the global media market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Database: Education Research Complete
Description
Abstract:While ex-colonial languages dominate the media landscape in sub-Saharan Africa, Indigenous African language channels on transnational television platforms are thriving. The success of these channels challenges the common idea that Indigenous African language media face obstacles reaching a substantial consumer base and raises the question of how these transnational channels pursue local audiences. Drawing on interviews and scholarship in global media studies and linguistic politics, this study examines channels in the Swahili and Hausa languages on a major television platform originating from China, identifying two localization approaches—pursuing attractive Indigenousness and gatekeeping unsuitable foreignness—employed to make the channels culturally resonant. The commercial interests-driven decolonial practices prioritize local languages, knowledge, and ideologies within a media environment that has historically favored ex-colonial languages and global flows. Nevertheless, the pursuit of localization presents complexities and ambivalence, as it is often limited and instrumentalized due to the political economy of media institutions navigating the global media market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:15295036
DOI:10.1080/15295036.2025.2574347