Toussaint Nothias is a postdoctoral fellow at the Digital Civil Society Lab. He holds a PhD in Media and Communication from the University of Leeds.
His research explores journalism, social media and civil society in Africa. In the past, he has conducted interviews among foreign correspondents to understand how the global image of Africa is produced. He has also done research with Kenyan journalists to examine their work practices and the impact of social media on their reporting of elections, terrorism, and the ICC investigation in Kenya. His postdoc fellowship project, titled Free Basics and the African Digital Civil Society, looks at the implementation of Facebook’s initiative to provide free Internet across various African countries, and its impact on local media production and civil society groups. The project engages a range of debates about digital advocacy and activism in the Global South, tech corporation’s investments in network infrastructures, net neutrality, civic engagement and social media platforms in politically volatile contexts. In parallel, Toussaint is developing a sharable, open-source tool at the intersection of technology, journalism, and scholarship. The Africa Stereotype Scanner (ASTRSC) deploys digital technologies to scan for damaging stereotypes and implicit biases in reporting about Africa. In 2017, Toussaint organized the workshop “African Media Studies in the Digital Age” at Stanford, and in 2018 he received the Stuart Hall Award from the IAMCR for his work on Twitter in Kenya.
Selected publications:
Nothias, T. & Cheruiyot, D. (2019) A “hotbed” of digital empowerment? Media criticism in Kenya between playful engagement and co-option. International Journal of Communication, 13, 136-159.
Nothias, T. (2018) How Western journalists actually write about Africa. Journalism Studies, 19(8), 1138-1159.
Paterson, C., & Nothias, T. (2016). Representation of China and the US in Africa in online global news. Communication, Culture, Critique, 9(1), 107-125.
Nothias, T. (2016). Mediating the distant Other for the distant audience: How do western correspondents in East and Southern Africa perceive their audience. In M. Bunce, S. Franks & C. Paterson (Eds.), Africa’s media image in the 21st century: From the “heart of darkness” to “Africa rising.” Routledge: London.
Nothias, T. (2014). Hopeful, rising, new: Visualizing Africa in the age of globalisation. Visual Communication, 13(3): 323-339.
Nothias, T. (2014). Afro-pessimism in the French and British press coverage of the 2010 South African World Cup. In T. Chari & N. Mhiripiri (Eds.), African football, identity politics and global media narratives: The legacy of the FIFA 2010 World Cup (pp. 285-304). Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave MacMillan.
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