Paper short abstract:

The paper scrutinizes the content of non-news television shows from 1980s Liberia, it argues that television production in Liberia at the time constituted a democratic form of knowledge creation, with programmes where knowledge issues that affected the public were discussed.

Paper long abstract:

The fact that governments closely controlled early African television has encouraged scholars to interpret the resulting programming as being closely related to policy and nation-building alone (Harding 2003). Yet, arguably, some programming was created not because of, but rather in spite of, government influence. This paper is particularly interested in educational television programmes in a broad sense.

The proposed contribution scrutinizes the content of non-news television shows from 1980s Liberia, by examining certain tapes from the archives of the Liberia Broadcasting System (LBS). It argues that television production in Liberia at the time constituted a democratic form of knowledge creation, with the tapes in question ranging from talk shows and forums where issues that affected members of the public were discussed (including breastfeeding and healthcare, as well as culture and heritage). Sometimes, the opinions of the public were purposefully sought in order to map out future episodes.

While it is now difficult to measure the impacts of these programmes at the point of their original broadcast, as historical sources, they nevertheless reveal the ambition of the LBS producers to create shows that served local audiences. As a result, this proposal contributes to ongoing conversations about decolonising knowledge by pointing out educational practices in non-academic cycles for at least as long as its main turn subaltern studies.

Keywords: Television, Television Programming, Decentred Knowledge, Liberia, Liberia Broadcasting System