Twenty Years of Communicating Social Change: A Southern African Perspective on Teaching, Researching and Doing.

The Centre for Communication, Media and Society (CCMS) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in South Africa has contributed to the intellectual growth, pedagogy, and practical implementation of communication for social change over the past two decades. During this time our approach has evolved considerably. These transitions speak to both the structural and political situations in a transforming South Africa, as well as the personal and theoretical interests of the Centre’s staff. An indication of these shifts is visible through the changing names of our graduate modules. The chapter reflects some of the ways in the established development communication paradigms framed the CCMS pedagogy, discourses and fieldwork over the past twenty years. It tracks and problematises the way in which the modules have transitioned from Media, Democracy and Development (MDD) (2002) to Communication for Participatory Development (2019). Our changing interpretations of this field has informed three key CCMS research tracks: community media, health communication and social change; and rethinking indigeneity. The chapter presents a case study of each of these tracks in order to illustrate the evolving approaches to development that each of these research areas have enabled.