Course Title Media, communication & development

Programme Title M.A. Development

Concentration Not Applicable

Mode M1 Level 3

Course ID Credits 3

Course Type Elective Semester 4

Version 1.0 Academic Year 2022-23

Course Development Adil Hossain

# This course is under CPC review.

Rationale and Introduction

This course will explore the role of media and communication in the field of development.
Primarily, the focus of the course will be both on theory and practice. Not only the students would
learn the theories around media and communication associated with development, but also, they
would be taught the skills and tools related to the topic.

In our MA Development programme, as our students learn the theories and debates within the field
of sociology, ecology, history of development from many vantage points, it is also imperative that
they understand how to communicate development debates and policies to people and other
relevant actors. As social media and multiple digital communication platforms has changed the
media landscape, this course will also critically analyse their role in shaping the development
discourse today. Therefore, this course will concentrate not only on ideas and concepts but also
how students can learn the skills and mediums to convey them.

With new and unseen challenges in our everyday lives, this course allows students to comprehend
the limits and possibilities of advocacy communication projects, the role of local actors, non-profit
sectors etc. As future development practitioners and fieldworkers, students will acquire knowledge
on effective communication strategies to gather data and engage in public campaigns. This course
will help them to have a better understanding on how to identify and target a select audience, use
the apt medium and language to communicate development projects.

By undertaking this elective course, students will engage in learning and applying different kinds of
development communication strategies which happen both in traditional media as well as in new

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media. It will not only expose them to the changing mediascape in the digital age, but also enable
them to situate themselves to use new tools and medium to share stories. In doing so, they will also
learn on the representation of marginalised groups and the ethical and political questions linked to
the subject. In this course, they will begin by understanding historical contexts and theories of
development communication and end by discussing contentious issues of our times like
representation of marginalised groups, fake news etc.

Prerequisites: None

Intended learning outcomes

By the end of this course, the students will be able to
1. Use certain social media and audio sharing applications such as Instagram, Twitter, Podcast
and photo essays.
2. Design specific development communication project.

3. Describe the historical and contemporary relevance of development communication

concepts and ideas.

4. Articulate knowledge on the ethics and politics of representation in communicating stories

on marginalised people.

Syllabus and Readings

Name of the unit Number of weeks

Communicating Narratives 2

5
Development Communication in practice

Emergent mediascape: Ethical and 6

political challenges

Group presentation 2

Unit I: Communicating narratives

The Unit will begin with skill training in the use of specific social media tools to communicate

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narratives around development issues. Apart from teaching how audio sharing and social media
apps work in certain contexts and help to reach out to communities and individuals, the students
will be given hands on training with their smartphones in practical sessions. The intent is to
familiarise the students with social media applications like Twitter, Instagram, Podcast from the
beginning of this course.

Week 1 Instagram and visual Social Media

Mandatory Reading
Serafinelli, E. (2018). Digital Life on Instagram:
New Social Communication of Photography.
Bingley: Emerald Publishing, Chapter 3 titled
Visual Social Relationships

A practical session on how to conceptualise and

produce a podcast. Students will be taught to
use easy mobile apps like anchor, Instagram on
a smartphone to produce podcasts and reels on
a topic concerning development issues.

Sample podcast used in the class-

https://soundcloud.com/ruralindia/aarey-
podcast

Week 2 Twitter and Social Media campaigns

Mandatory Reading
US Consulate (2017) ‘Campaigning on Twitter-
NGO handbook” Accessed online at
https://in.usembassy.gov/wp-content/uploads/
sites/71/2017/05/NGO-Handbook-2017-
Digital.pdf

Another interactive practical session with

students that will take forward the lessons from
previous week on skill building regarding the
use of social media applications on development
issues.

Graded assignment- Students will be asked to write five sample tweets on selected topics within
the 280 character limit and upload them on the Moodle by 4 th week.

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Unit II: Development Communication in practice

Following Unit 1, where they learnt certain skills and tools and their use in development
communication context, this unit will introduce students to the conceptual field of development
communication and help them understand major theoretical paradigms and idea associated with it.
The students will be exposed to historical contexts, debates and theoretical background that led to
the emergence of development communication as a field of study.

After history & theories of development communication, the readings and lecture in this unit will
help students to understand the strategies of development communication, actors involved and
how local contingencies impact them on the ground. They will learn what are the factors and
structures that need to be studied to understand advocacy communication.

Week 3 What is development communication

Mandatory Readings
Dutta, Mohan J (2011) Introduction, Communicating
Social Change: Structure, Culture and Agency, pp.1-28
Florencia Enghel (2015) Towards a Political Economy
of Communication in Development? Nordicom Review,
36, pp. 11-24

Week 4 Theories of Development Communication

Mandatory Readings
Srinivas R. Melkote (2003) Theories of Development
Communication. International Development
Communication: A 21st Century Perspective, pp. 129-
146

Pradip N. Thomas (2015) Communication for Change,

Making Theory Count. Nordicom Review, 36, pp. 71-78

Week 5 This unit will start with lecture by Azim Premji

Foundation team who worked on advocacy/ public
health communication during their Covid-19 response.

*Students would be asked to see this documentary

before the lecture, ‘Chronicling of Covid-19 in India -
through the eyes, ears, and feelings of people on the
ground’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=rKe0YqWclxs

Strategies of Development Communication

Mandatory Readings

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 Jan Servaes (2008). Communication for Development
Approaches of Some Governmental and Non-
Governmental Agencies. Communication for
Development and Social Change, pp. 201-218

Mohan J. Dutta (2011) Mediated Social Change.

Communicating Social Change: Structure, Culture, and
Agency, pp. 267-286

Week 6 Historical context of Development Communication

Mandatory Readings
Arturo Escobar (1995) Development and the
Anthropology of
Modernity. Encountering Development: The Making
and Unmaking of the Third World, pp. 3-20

Karin Wilkins (2014) Emerging Issues in

Communicating
Development and Social Change. The Handbook of
Development Communication and Social Change, pp.
138-144

Week 7 Advocacy Communication

Mandatory reading
Karin Wilkins (2014) Advocacy Communication. The
Handbook of Development Communication and Social
Change, pp. 57-71

Robert Huesca (2008) Tracing the History of

Participatory Communication Approaches to
Development. Communication for Development and
Social Change , pp. 180-198

Reflection paper on Unit II will be announced and it needs to be submitted by week 9.

Unit III: Emergent mediascape: Ethical and political challenges

This unit will introduce our students with the changing landscape of media and how it has impacted
the field of development communication. The readings and lectures of this unit will expose our
students to emergent new media technologies (e.g smartphones) and platforms (e.g Instagram,

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Twitter etc), and how new strategies have evolved to communicate development discourses
through these mediums. This Unit blends analysis and application of new media in the development
practices and help our students learn how we have entered the digital age.

Additionally, the lessons in this unit will link journalistic practices with emergent mediascape to
demonstrate how development communication remains central in telling human stories from the
ground. Along with it the issues of ethics and representation in communicating stories from
marginalised groups will be taught to the students. With readings on gender, caste and indigenous
groups and practical sessions on how to write on these vulnerable communities, students will have
opportunity to learn specific points related to ethical questions and politics of representation in
development communication.

The unit will be wrapped up with discussions on the menace of fake news, misinformation and how
it has shaped contemporary unethical development communication practices.

Week 8 Grassroots Media and Development Communication in India

Mandatory Reading
Paula Chakravartty (2012) Rebranding Development Communications in
Emergent India, access here:
http://ojs.ub.gu.se/ojs/index.php/gt/article/view/1291

Loo, Eric (2009) “ Best practices of journalism in Asia” See the Chapter 1 on
Development Journalism and interview with P Sainath. Can be accessed online
from https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?
article=1044&context=creartspapers

Recommended Reading:
Doron, Assa & Jeffery, Robin (2013) The Great Indian Phone Book How the Cheap
Cell Phone Changes Business, Politics, and Daily Life, Massachusetts, USA: Harvard
University Press, Introduction

Discussion with students on the writing of a long form human story. A sample story
from PARI website will be distributed to the student with a brief discussion on what
is expected from them.

Week 9 Gender & Development Communication in India

Mandatory Reading
Mohan Dutta (2011) Gendered Marginalization. Communicating Social Change:
Structure, Culture, and Agency, pp. 145-165

Poonam, Snigdha (2015) Kidnap, rape and ‘honour’ killings: on the road with a
female reporter in rural India, Accessed online on
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/mar/30/female-reporter-

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 rural-india-khabar-lahariya-feminist-newspaper

(early stories on Khabar Lahriya)

Week 10 Social Media and development communication

Mandatory Reading
Kim, Michael Dokyum (2021) ‘Representing ‘development’ on Instagram:
questioning ‘what’, ‘who’, and ‘how’ of development in digital space’ The Journal
of International Communication, 27(2): 192-214

Tenhunen, Sirpa (2018) A village goes Mobile: Telephony, mediation and social
change in Rural India, Oxford: Oxford University Press (Introduction only)

Week 11 Fake news, whatsapp and impact on vulnerable communities

Mandatory reading

Ponniah, Kevin (2019) ‘WhatsApp: The 'black hole' of fake news in India's
election’ Accessed online from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-
47797151

Scroll (2021) ‘Watch: John Oliver on misinformation trends, including the spread
of fake news on WhatsApp in India’ Accessed online from
https://scroll.in/video/1007518/watch-john-oliver-on-misinformation-trends-
including-the-spread-of-fake-news-on-whatsapp-in-india

Recommended Reading:

Lewis-Kraus, Gideon (2022), “How harmful is Social Media?” The New Yorker,
Accessed online on https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-inquiry/we-
know-less-about-social-media-than-we-think

Development communication & politics of representation

Week 12
Mandatory Reading
“Who tells our stories matters” can be accessed online from Oxfam website at
https://www.oxfamindia.org/sites/default/files/2019-08/Oxfam
%20NewsLaundry%20Report_For%20Media%20use.pdf

Janice Nathanson (2013) The Pornography of Poverty: Reframing the Discourse

of International Aid's Representations of Starving Children. Canadian Journal of
Communication, 38(1), pp. 103-120

Week 13 Mandatory Reading

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 Sen, Moumita (2019) ‘The Mahishasur Movement Online: a Precarious Network
of ‘Demon-Followers’, Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture, 8(1): 105-
131

Williams, Philippa et al (2022) ‘No Room for Dissent: Domesticating WhatsApp,

Digital Private Spaces, and Lived Democracy in India’, Antipode, 54(1): 305-330

Group discussion in class on the emergence of fake news through social media apps
and its impact on vulnerable communities.

Unit IV: Group Presentation Week

Week 14 Presentation of their group projects.

Week 15 Presentation of their group projects & wrapping

up

Final paper due.

Pedagogy

This course aims at introducing students to the field of development communication; therefore, I
have undertaken an active and collaborative learning approach that is critical for delivering the
learning outcomes. The course will utilize theoretical and empirical readings, practical and
workshop sessions, group discussions and a diverse set of assessment components to facilitate
student learning. From the first unit itself, there will be student led discussion on media and
development, flipped classroom setting to debate ethics and politics of representation in the spirit
of collaborative learning. As many students are exposed to social media today, the idea would be to
include their experiences in the pedagogy of this course.

Through classroom transactions it will be emphasised to students that knowledge of theories and
histories of development communication are integral to understanding communication and
advocacy campaigns. It will also be stressed upon that this understanding is reflected across
various strategies of development communication and in framing important advocacy campaigns.
This will also be demonstrated through their assessments

The group project will push our students to identify how contemporary media platforms can be
used to communicate development related issues. Not only in the beginning but also throughout the

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course, with regular interaction inside and outside the class I will continue to guide them on using
popular social media & podcast apps. The idea would be to orient them with new media
applications.

Equipped with the required skill training, students will present their work by collaborating with
each other in the group presentation week. At the end of their presentation, I will distribute a peer-
evaluation form in class to assess their individual contribution.

Finally, students would submit a term paper where they will reflect on their learning on the ethical
and political challenges of grassroots media as well as new media. They will be asked to critically
examine how fake news and misinformation campaign have changed the way we understand media
today and how they impact the marginalised communities.

Assessment and Grading

 
Assessment Type Percentage Intended Learning Outcome

Social Media Campaign 15 ILO1, ILO2

Reflection Paper 20 ILO3

Final Paper 25 ILO4

 Group Project  30 ILO1, ILO2

Class participation 10 ILO1, ILO2, ILO3, ILO4

Social Media campaign (15%)

Students will be asked to submit 5 sample tweets (within the 280 characters) on selected
development related topics on the moodle with the correct use of hashtags.
Sample topics:
i) 2021/22 Human Development Report released by UNDP
ii) World Bank Report on sanitation
iii) Niti Ayog report on gig economy

Reflection Paper on II (20%)

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A 1000 word reflection paper on the readings mentioned in Unit II to assess their understanding on
the theory, history and strategies of development communication.

Sample questions:
1. Explain the historical background in which development communication emerged and why.
2. How to understand participation in the context of advocacy communication?

Term paper on Unit III (25%)

A 1200 word term paper on the readings mentioned in Unit III and IV to examine their
understanding on the ethical and political challenges in the field of media and communication. They
will be encouraged to write on their understanding on the changing role of media today, and how
issues like fake news and misinformation have impacted our everyday lives.
Sample question:
1. How the issue of politics of representation has shaped our understanding of traditional as
well as new media today?
2. How new experiments in grassroots media like PARI & Khabar Lahriya have brought new
understanding of development communication?

Group Project (30%)

5-7 minute Podcast/ 3 Instagram Reels/ Photograph series with 100 word description each
(Maximum 10)
Subject- How covid has impacted different communities in India

In this group project, students will collaborate with each other and have opportunity to develop a
5-7 min. mini podcast, 3 Instagram reels (private account), or a Photo essay on the topic mentioned
above. The students will be divided in a group of three and they will be assessed on the suitability
and effective use of the medium, applying development communication strategies, have clear
understanding of the target audience etc. For students selecting photo essay for this assessment,
they can use up to 10 photographs with maximum 100 words description of each image. Each
group would be given 5-7 minutes to present their work, and another 10-12 minutes for discussion.

In the communicative narratives Unit and in subsequent interactive class discussions, the students
would learn necessary skills and tools to participate in this group project.

Class Participation:10 %

Based on their participation in class discussions, group discussions on a given topic, attendance in
class and office hours to show their interest in the course.

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