Networking African journalism educators: bonding, bridging, and linking

Abstract

Professional networking of African journalism educators is a complex matter for reasons related to thefragmentary identity and fragile resource base of this constituency. African journalism educators thusshare many characteristics which ironically dilute the sense of a clear and common identity that couldfacilitate networking as a community. The prospects for building a social network amongst thisconstituency can be analysed in terms of theories of social capital and a review of variousexperiences. The results suggest that “bridging” to external constituencies with resources is the mostfertile method of community creation, and this driver is central to building social capital via enhancedrelationships in the African journalism education sector.