NORDCORP. Critical Perspectives on New Media and Processes of Social Change in the Global South

This major Nordic-led research project sets out to address these issues by bringing together researchers from Denmark; Finland; Norway; Sweden and Kenya who draw on their rich experience researching in the Global South and new empirical insights in the re gion to examine the following key questions: a.) What are the orientations and democratic implications of rapid alterations in media systems in societies fraught with socio-economic inequalities and political ambiguities? b.) How are ordinary citizens eng aging with and consuming media in these new media environments and what patterns of everyday media practices at individual and household levels emerge in such contexts? c.) What are the implications of the emerging everyday media cultures in such contexts on people?s social and cultural identities and local processes of social change? d.) In what ways do rapidly changing media environments create or alter existing spaces for citizenship engagement at local levels and what are the implications of the emer ging everyday media cultures in these areas on the propensity for ordinary citizens? engagement or disengagement from politics? e.) In what ways and to what extent do the patterns of ordinary citizens? everyday media practices enhance; change or complica te their perceptions of and relationship with the state? The project examines empirically above-mentioned issues through a focused analysis of Kenya and enrich the findings from Kenya with our extensive previous research in other regions in the Global So uth. In doing so, the project aims to contribute significantly to theoretical and methodological discussions on the patterns of new media appropriations and their implications in the Global South in ways which challenge and advance similar Nordic research and policy in particular and mainstream Western research on these issues in general.