New Orality in the African Mediascape, with Dr. Reginold Royston

Welcome to the first episode of the new season of The Podcast Studies Podcast (formerly New Aural Cultures). We are absolutely delighted to have Dr. Reginold Royston on the show, whose article Podcasts and New Orality in the African Mediascape is the focus of the discussion.

A transcript of this episode is available.

Dr. Royston is a media anthropologist and digital humanities researcher, jointly appointed in the School of Information (formerly SLIS) and the Department of African Cultural Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He teaches courses on the political economy of information, race/class/gender/identity in tech, Africa, and internet practices in developing world contexts. He also coordinates the Black Arts + Data Futures group through the Borghesi-Mellon Interdisciplinary Workshop in the Humanities at the UW-Madison Center for Humanities.

The discussion covers the context of African podcasting, researching from diaspora identity, tech entrepreneurialism as a genre, the concepts of secondary and new orality, the influence of African oral traditions and the dialogic formulas that structure podcasts discussions.

For this season Dario is joined by a new regular (I mean deluxe) co-host Lori Beckstead. Lori is a professor of audio and digital media at the RTA School of Media at “X” University (undergoing a name change), where she teaches courses in radio production, sound design, and digital media production. Also, as a sound artist, she has a particular interest in soundscape recording and interactive installation art. Dario and Lori give an overview of their interests for the coming season.

We are also delighted to have a new recommendation segment (or a podcast neighbourhood walk) featuring podcast producer and all-around guru Jess Schmidt. Jess is a podcast producer and consultant based in Calgary, Alberta. She recently completed a Master of Media Production at "X" University, and listens to more podcasts than anyone Lori has ever known.

Shownotes

Podcasts Dr. Royston mentions:

Africa Past and Present Podcast

Africa Pod festival

Jess’ recommendations: