Un/Making CSC: A critical engagement with Communication for Social 'Changemaking'
Lead Research Organisation:
Loughborough University
Department Name: Loughborough University in London
Abstract
The aid and development funding landscape for communication and social change (CSC) is changing rapidly. CSC is a field of scholarship and practice within communication studies concerned with the role of media and communication in processes of social change and development. Historically, much of the practice of CSC has been funded as part of international development cooperation. However, funds from traditional bilateral donors are shrinking, especially in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Furthermore, philanthropic foundations, especially those linked with tech-sector corporations, are growing in funding scale and programmatic influence. This context is accelerating the uptake of social entrepreneurship inspired discourses and worldviews in CSC practice. This worldview mirrors contemporary capitalist cultures and draws on new business management mantras, emphasising optimism, creativity, boldness, leadership and autonomy as an approach to 'changemaking'. Under this worldview, dependency on donors is seen as the main problem to avoid, and traditional aid and development is framed as having failed. For CSC practitioners on the ground there is validity in this assessment. Practitioners have reported that they see significant benefits from social entrepreneurship approaches, in that it enables them to be more bottom-up, to operate in less precarious and dependent ways, to be more adaptive to local needs, and to determine their own priority actions and approaches.
However, this trend is in stark contrast with the momentum of current debates in academia, where of primary interest is in the role of communication in the resistance of global capitalism and in decolonization agendas. Social entrepreneurship discourses and the broader neoliberalisation of CSC are therefore seen as threats to, not enablers of, social justice.
Un/Making CSC engages directly with these tensions, investigating the implications of growing entrepreneurial discourses within communication for social change (CSC) from a practitioner perspective. Theoretically, Un/Making CSC will engage in interdisciplinary ways with social entrepreneurship and leadership studies. Empirically it will use participatory and visual methods with practitioners, communities and other key stakeholders to interrogate the implications in terms of shifting CSC concepts, funding strategies, stakeholder relationships, and alternative frameworks. The research will be undertaken in two distinct sites: youth and girls engagement in Malawi which has historically been reliant on international development funding; and feminist digital justice efforts India, where there are complex tensions being negotiated in terms of funding sources, especially philanthropic funding, and the political principles of the organisation.
The research aims to advance theory and practice on a justice-driven approach to communication for social 'changemaking'. The Fellowship enables the PI to firmly establish intellectual leadership and the shaping of new interdisciplinary research agendas engaging across communication and media studies, international development studies, and social entrepreneurship and leadership studies. The Fellowship is designed to develop skills and leadership capabilities in project management, methodological innovation, HE leadership, and public engagement and policy impact. This project partners with several well-established CSC organisations with experience of navigating these tensions, to co-develop insights, actionable frameworks and policy briefs for a social justice-driven approach to Communication for Social Changemaking. The Fellowship will positively impact the partner organisations within the life of the project, and lays the foundation for future policy-impact.
However, this trend is in stark contrast with the momentum of current debates in academia, where of primary interest is in the role of communication in the resistance of global capitalism and in decolonization agendas. Social entrepreneurship discourses and the broader neoliberalisation of CSC are therefore seen as threats to, not enablers of, social justice.
Un/Making CSC engages directly with these tensions, investigating the implications of growing entrepreneurial discourses within communication for social change (CSC) from a practitioner perspective. Theoretically, Un/Making CSC will engage in interdisciplinary ways with social entrepreneurship and leadership studies. Empirically it will use participatory and visual methods with practitioners, communities and other key stakeholders to interrogate the implications in terms of shifting CSC concepts, funding strategies, stakeholder relationships, and alternative frameworks. The research will be undertaken in two distinct sites: youth and girls engagement in Malawi which has historically been reliant on international development funding; and feminist digital justice efforts India, where there are complex tensions being negotiated in terms of funding sources, especially philanthropic funding, and the political principles of the organisation.
The research aims to advance theory and practice on a justice-driven approach to communication for social 'changemaking'. The Fellowship enables the PI to firmly establish intellectual leadership and the shaping of new interdisciplinary research agendas engaging across communication and media studies, international development studies, and social entrepreneurship and leadership studies. The Fellowship is designed to develop skills and leadership capabilities in project management, methodological innovation, HE leadership, and public engagement and policy impact. This project partners with several well-established CSC organisations with experience of navigating these tensions, to co-develop insights, actionable frameworks and policy briefs for a social justice-driven approach to Communication for Social Changemaking. The Fellowship will positively impact the partner organisations within the life of the project, and lays the foundation for future policy-impact.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Jessica Noske-Turner (Principal Investigator / Fellow) |
Publications
Noske-Turner, J.
(2024)
Briefing paper: Could mandatory CSR support communication for social change?
Noske-Turner, J.
(2023)
Exploring social justice-frameworks for Communication for Social 'Changemaking'
| Description | The original aim of this study was to explore the implications of growing entrepreneurial and capitalist discourses within communication for social change, with particular attention to Global South practitioner perspectives. The project aimed to uncover the acts of adaptation and resistance by communication for social change practitioners to increasingly neoliberal funding conditions and capitalist-driven values and logics, and to imagine alternative futures. By project month 12/18 fieldwork has been undertaken in both sites (Malawi and India), engaging with the three partner NGOs associated with this project. The findings to date provide grounded insights into the complexities of experiences of local organisations. These rich, empirical insights complicate assumptions stemming from macro, sociological critiques of capitalism in some important ways. They indicate that moves towards modes of funding such as social enterprise and corporate philanthropy can be understood a resistance to neocolonialism and neoliberalism, even if they are perhaps simultaneously a symptom of it. The findings shed light on these tensions and the specific ways they manifest in communication for development and social change. It finds that communication for development is on the frontlines of these shifts firstly due to the increasingly central position of privatised digital media platforms for communication. The research project has engaged with practitioners to analyse the use of commodified social media platforms for social change, finding ways that maintain a community media ethos. Secondly, the research advances empirical understandings of the potential capture of communication for development for branding and marketing purposes, and the ways in which cause-related marketing seeks to use communication for development as a feeding trough of affective stories. Additionally, there are findings from the project relating to methodological innovation. The project has developed a series of novel conceptual and practical methods that use symbols, metaphors and allegories in combination with creative and arts-based methods for collective processes of making and unmaking. These creative methods, and the way they use fictions to enhance analysis of realities and alternative possibilities, are part of what enables this research to offer uniquely grounded insights to current academic debates. Furthermore, an open access resource has been published, serving as a guide for partner organisations to become active co-researchers. They will facilitate workshops in communities they work with, generating data that will contribute to the broader research. These findings are in the process of being synthesised and refined into a range of outputs, including a monograph, a series of journal articles, and an exhibition. |
| Exploitation Route | Academic impact: The findings will be valuable for the field of communication for development specifically, and, as an interdisciplinary study, the wider fields of communication studies and development studies. The study advances conceptual and practical understanding of the implications for development and social change in the face of the increasing privatisation of development funding, specifically through grounded, rich and creative data. Furthermore, the methodological innovations developed in this project relating to the use of metaphors as part of creative and arts based approaches will be published in academic journals. Open access resources for community research have already been be made available. These methods will have relevance and value across the humanities and social sciences. Non-academic impact: The findings will be of interest to a range of Malawian, Indian and UK based development and policy actors, particularly those at the forefront of emerging debates on localization of development. This includes several of the partners directly involved in the project. It also includes development professionals based in the UK have already shown interest in this research. In collaboration with Bond UK (a network of development professionals), 20 communications professionals attended a workshop, after which a blog post had 358 direct views, and 508 click throughs from a newsletter sent to 15,800 people. Discussions are ongoing with Bond UK about a follow up event. The findings will also be relevant to government departments, especially the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, as well as stakeholders involved in policies and management of the NGO sector in Malawi and corporate philanthropy sector in India. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Government Democracy and Justice Culture Heritage Museums and Collections |
| URL | https://unmakingcsc.lboro.ac.uk/ |
| Description | Reflecting on practice and strategies: Practitioners in India and Malawi participating in the project have benefited directly from the participatory action research and creative methods. The workshops facilitated critical reflection and knowledge sharing on communication and social change practices, funding conditions, and strategies. Practitioners in partner organisations described the experiences as powerfully drawing their attention to elements of their own and others' practices and strategies in ways they had not considered before. South-South knowledge exchange: Partner organisations in both India and Malawi were curious about each other's perspectives on these shared but differently experienced challenges. Malawian participants were for example interested in the experience of corporate philanthropy funding in India, where companies earning over a certain threshold are mandated to give 2% of profits to philanthropy. A briefing paper summarising the findings to date has been published. This is being shared in networks, and further research is being undertaken. Further impacts are still under way. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2023 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Societal |
| Title | Making Metaphors Community Workshop Guide |
| Description | This guide supports community co-researchers to facilitate Making Metaphors workshops. Making Metaphors is a technique that has been developed as part of a research project. It uses creative, arts-based methods to think about and express ideas and experiences in deep and rich ways. Participants are encouraged to think of a metaphor for an idea or experience, or of how things could be different in the future, and create it as a 3D model using local craft materials. Playing creatively with physical materials in combination with stories and metaphors helps with critical and creative thinking. Making Metaphors workshops are usually fun and enjoyable for participants, but they are also valuable for research: the metaphors become 'precise fictions'. They are a poetic and powerful way for participants' voices to be heard and understood by others. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | This tool will be used by co-researchers in the partner NGOs in the final six months of the project. The results will be featured in an exhibition. |
| URL | https://doi.org/10.17028/rd.lboro.25226756.v1 |
| Description | 'Changemaking' and other Neoliberal Narratives: Social justice alternatives for communicating social change' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Approximately 20 Communications professionals who are members of Bond UK's Communications Working Group attended the workshop. Bond UK is a network for professionals working in international development. It was a closed event, to ensure that professionals felt safe to reflect openly. The event sparked significant debate and reflection. Communications professionals in the session reflected on how at times there can be tensions between commitments to social justice, organisational imperatives and strategies, and requirements of donors. This can be particularly fraught in partnerships with corporate funders who seek to benefit from associations with NGOs as part of their marketing strategy, which can enable those same corporates to continue activities that further global inequalities. The power dynamics in these situations can make it difficult to push back on narrative and branding directions. It was clear in discussions that the manifestations of these trends are often quite ambiguous. For example, should we disregard 'economic empowerment' as an inherently problematic neoliberal concept, or can it be an important, informed response to situations where economic vulnerability is a key driver of health outcomes? The discussion also raised bigger questions - is it even possible for development communications to engage in discussions about anti-capitalism? Some of the participants work for organisations with more radical politics than others, leading to different positions and responses, but the notion of dismantling capitalist structures remains conceptually difficult for society. One conclusion from this workshop is that further exploration is clearly needed to identify alternative and actionable communications narratives and strategies. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | How does the new spirit of capitalism influence development communications? |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | The blog post was a co-authored piece with the Bond UK Communications Working Group Chairs, and was a follow up/ output of a workshop with the Communications Working Group. Bond UK is a professional network for organisations working in international development. The Communications Working Group judged the research topic to have relevance for parts of the wider Bond Network, and for this reason we were invited to publish the blog post, which was then also featured in the Bond UK newsletter. The Bond UK newsletter was sent to 15,75 email addresses. There were 508 click throughs to the blog post. There were a further 358 direct views on the website (this count is only of people who accepted cookies). There were 62 engagements on Twitter. There were 28 engagements on LinkedIn. There was an enquiry about further collaboration as an outcome of this engagement activity. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.bond.org.uk/news/2023/07/how-does-the-new-spirit-of-capitalism-influence-development-com... |
| Description | Interview on YONECO FM: social enterprise and youth in Malawi |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | The researcher was interviewed on a youth and employment radio show on YFM, a popular radio station in Malawi targeting women and youth with a national reach. The interview covered topics of: discourses of enterprises and pressures it can place on young people to lift themselves out of poverty; social enterprises and how they can be helpful in some cases, but may not always address the needs of the poorest and most marginalised; and more broadly about the research project. The 20 minute interview was broadcast on 4/09/2023. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.yonecofm.com/ |
| Description | Making and unmaking with metaphors: a reflection on creative methods in Un/Making CSC |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | The researchers was invited to give a talk as part of the IMCI Speaker Series of Loughborough University London. The IMCI Speaker Series are hybrid talks, and open to the public. Abstract: Creative methods are gaining attention in academic research. They are not only fun and joyful, but also can enable deeper exploration, expression and voice, insight and analysis. In this session, Jessica NoskeTurner will share some of the ways she applied creative and participatory methods in the Un/Making CSC Fellowship, with a focus on the multiple ways metaphorical and poetic thinking was used in workshops. She will reflect on what the creative methods offered the research, including how it created unique spaces for powerfully articulating complex and sensitive perspectives and experiences, and engaging in imaginative concept making and unmaking. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.lborolondon.ac.uk/institutes/media-creative-industries/imci-speaker-series/making-and-un... |
| Description | Project Advisory Group |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The Project Advisory Group brings together an interdisiplinary panel of internationally leading scholars. The meetings take place four times within the life of the project, and provide advice on progress, analysis and insights, strategic direction, and on publication drafts. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://unmakingcsc.lboro.ac.uk/team/ |
| Description | Project website |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | The project website provides a comprensive overview of the project, as well as news, blogs, links to publications and other updates. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://unmakingcsc.lboro.ac.uk/ |
| Description | Unmaking to Remake: A conversation on the place of care in communication for social change research |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This seminar celebrated the launch of the 'Un/Making Communication for Social Change: A Critical Engagement with Communication for Social Changemaking' research project. The seminar began with an introduction to the Un/Making CSC research project by PI Jessica Noske-Turner. Ass. Prof. Florencia Enghel, one of the research project's Advisory Group members and a current Marie Curie Fellow, reflected on the importance of care and reflexivity in field research. Prof. Jo Tacchi was the discussant. This event reached approximately 100 people (30 in the room, 72 views online) and raised the profile of the research amongst key stakeholders. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46DHOtRbAV8 |