Community Radio in South Asia

This book explores the state of community radio, a significant independent media movement that began about two decades ago, in different parts of South Asia. The volume outlines the socioeconomic and historical contexts for understanding the evolution and functioning of community radio in an increasingly globalised media environment. It provides a ring-side view of how various countries in South Asia have formulated policies that enabled the emergence of this third sector of broadcasting (public and private being the other two) through radio, rendering the media ecology in the region more pluralistic and diverse. The chapters in the volume, interspersed by practitioner perspectives, discuss a range of key issues related to community radio: radio policies, NGOisation of community radio, spectrum management and democratisation of technology, disasters/emergencies, gender issues, sustainability, and conflicts. One of the first of its kind, this volume will appeal to scholars and researchers of community media and independent media studies, cultural studies, as well as sociology and social anthropology, and South Asian studies.

Kanchan K. Malik is Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Hyderabad, India. She is also a faculty fellow with the UNESCO Chair on Community Media since 2011, and Editor of the newsletter CR News. Vinod Pavarala is Senior Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Hyderabad, India, where he has also held the UNESCO Chair on Community Media since 2011. They have previously authored Other Voices: The Struggle for Community Radio in India (2007) and several joint articles and research reports on community radio in leading publications.

1. Introduction: Community Radio in South Asia: A Roadmap for Media Democracy PART I: THE POLICY TERRAIN 2. Deliberating Community Radio in India: A Policy Ethnography 3. Community Radio in Bangladesh: Policy and Practice 4. Community Radios of Nepal: Trajectory of a Cultural Movement 5. Community Radio in Sri Lanka: Need for Legal Recognition and Community Ownership PART II: ISSUES IN PRACTICE 6. Beyond the Development Trap: NGOisation of Community Radio in India 7. Radio Spectrum Management: Implications for Community Radio in South Asia 8. The Paradoxes of Technology: Reflections about Community Radio in South Asia 9. Women and Community Radio in South Asia: The Participation and Empowerment Dilemmas 10. Community Radio in Times of Disaster: Contemplations for South Asia 11. Not Quite There Yet: Sustainability of Community Radio in South Asia PART III: CASE STUDIES 12. Conflict and Community Radio in India: Solutions Possible and Impossible 13. Evaluating Community Radio: An Analysis of a Toolkit for Self-Assessment 14. Mapping Material Media Practices: Sangam Radio at DDS 15. Grassroots Democracy via Community Radio: A Case Study in Rural India 16. Community Radio for Creating Communication Channels: Theoretical Musings Emanating from Himalayan Rural Locales