Participatory Approaches to Communication for Development

Participatory Approaches to Communication for Development

The dominant paradigm of development underwent far-reaching interrogation and criticism in the 1970s by scholars and practitioners across disciplines and from around the globe. Perhaps the most significant challenge to the dominant paradigm of development communication came from Latin American scholars who deconstructed and rejected the premises, objectives, and methods of modernization and its attendant communication approaches. This early criticism stimulated a range of research projects that has resulted in a robust literature exploring participatory communication approaches to development. Participatory approaches gained momentum in the 1980s and 1990s and have evolved into a rich field standing in stark contrast to models and theories of the first development decades. In fact, scholars have noted that few contemporary development projects—regardless of theoretical orientation—are conducted without some sort of participatory component, even if this notion is honored more on paper than in practice (Ascroft & Masilela, 1994, Fraser & Restrepo-Estrada, 1998; Mato, 1999; S. A. White, 1994). Despite its widespread use, however, the concept of participatory communication is subject to loose interpretation that appears at best to be variable and contested and at worst misused and distorted (Arnst, 1996; Jacobson & Servaes, 1999).

Indeed, the Latin American challenge for scholars to embrace more appropriate, ethical, and responsive theories of development communication remains unrealized to some extent, creating a sense of conceptual and practical stagnation. One way of reinvigor-ating this field of study is to review the key elements of the challenge from Latin America and of the subsequent research that has refined our sense of participatory approaches [Page 210]of development communication. Such a review is intended to illuminate the conceptual directions that have been emphasized, elaborated, neglected, and ignored over time. By reviewing the variety of directions that have been explored over time, future paths of research and practice will be suggested for the continued theoretical advance of this field.

This chapter will begin with an abbreviated history of the challenge to the dominant paradigm of development communication that emerged from Latin America in the 1970s.1 It will then provide a thematic review of the participatory communication research that has emerged since then, identifying the various directions taken by scholars in this field. Placing this thematic review into relief with the Latin American critique will provide a historical map of ideas and interests that will point to future directions. The final section of the chapter will conclude by recovering specific themes that hold the promise of advancing participatory development communication.