Herman Wasserman, professor and chair of the Department of Journalism at Stellenbosch University, will examine disinformation and its drivers in the Global South at the inaugural NU-Q Lecture on the Global South, a signature annual event addressing critical issues in the Global South, on January 24th, 2024.
Joining Northwestern Qatar students, faculty, and staff for the lecture, Wasserman will look into disinformation in the context of the North-South relationship and how disinformation studies replicate the asymmetrical knowledge production characterizing the field as a whole. He will also discuss the ways Global South brings to light the importance of history, social dynamics, and power relations in understanding the drivers of disinformation and the most appropriate responses to the problem.
“Disinformation is a key concern in empirical research, media practice, and political discourse, and despite the strong growth in academic scholarship and professional fact-checking, this burgeoning subfield of communication studies remains dominated by perspectives and experiences from the Global North,” said Marwan M. Kraidy, dean and CEO of Northwestern Qatar. “As a media school and a community of evidence-based storytellers, disinformation poses a threat to our core values. I’m delighted to have a scholar of Herman’s global stature join us for this community event, which will help our students, faculty, and staff engage critically with disinformation and examine the importance of the Global South as a context for new understandings of disinformation.”
“As a media school and a community of evidence-based storytellers, disinformation poses a threat to our core values. I’m delighted to have a scholar of Herman’s global stature join us for this community event, which will help our students, faculty, and staff engage critically with disinformation and examine the importance of the Global South as a context for new understandings of disinformation”
A media studies scholar from South Africa, his career began in the early 2000s after spending several years working as a newspaper journalist in Cape Town, South Africa. His scholarly productions have focused on media in post-apartheid South Africa and include more than 80 articles in peer-reviewed journals, numerous book chapters, and co-authored books and monographs, including Media, Geopolitics, and Power: A View from the Global South (University of Illinois Press, 2018); Tabloid Journalism in South Africa: True Story! (African Expressive Cultures); and China's Media and Soft Power in Africa: Promotion and Perceptions.
In addition to his scholarly work, Wasserman has served as a consultant for multiple media, NGOs, and international organizations, including UNESCO, Deutsche Welle Akademie, Digital Public Square, Africa Check, and the Center for International Media Assistance. He also serves on the scientific committee of Reporters without Borders, is a fellow of the International Communication Association, and is an elected member of the Academy of Science of South Africa.
The NU-Q Lecture on the Global South is part of a series of community programs hosted by the Institute for Advanced Study in the Global South (#IAS_NUQ) designed to inform and engage the Northwestern Qatar community on pressing issues in the Global South. For more information about the NU-Q Lecture on the Global South and other #IAS_NUQ programs, click here.
