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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Environmental disaster in the Niger-Delta: rapprochement through drama and the media |
Author: | Ogunleye, Foluke |
Year: | 2006 |
Periodical: | Humanities Review Journal |
Volume: | 6 |
Pages: | 15-31 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Nigeria |
Subjects: | environmental education mass media drama |
Abstract: | Nigeria is facing environmental problems that must be addressed. If government policies on environmental issues are to succeed, there is a need to involve the public through information campaigns and awareness programmes. The mass media can be seen as an invaluable means of environmental education. Especially in the Niger Delta, where the environmental degradation is very real, there is a need for the media to be utilized to provide an objective examination of all the issues, to overcome the 'tunnel vision' affecting the government, oil companies and aggrieved inhabitants alike, and discourage the use of violence. Theatre for development and media drama can be used to define a problem and carry out an educational campaign that has great potential to achieve results if ideas are restated over and over again. However, most drama programmes are geared towards pure entertainment. For media to be more useful in the service of the Niger Delta environment, producers need to be educated about environmental issues. When designing the content of the drama, it is very important to have a project approach in mind. Moreover, the plays should be performed in a language spoken and understood by the target audience to maximize effectiveness. And the media sociologist in charge of the project must be willing and ready to meet with the people, to encourage them in their struggles and organize them into pressure groups which know their rights and demand them in a non-violent way. Bibliogr. [ASC Leiden abstract] |