Christian Print Media in Kenya and their Coverage of Political Events in the 1980s and 1990s – graduated in 2013
Still putting the comma in the right places: The OCMS PhD thesis journey and its relevance to me today. Put the comma in the right place” were the only words from Dr Damon So when he first read the book review on the East African Revival that I submitted for publication in the OCMS journal, Transformation, in 2013.
I did put the comma in the right place and the book review was published, but I left OCMS thinking how kind my wonderful thesis supervisors – Dr Graham Mytton and Dr Ben Knighton – had been to me as I did many wrong things during my thesis writing journey.
Some of the things I did wrong in my thesis were: putting the comma in the wrong place;thinking in my Kenyan mother tongue (Kiembu) during the construction of English sentences which resulted in confusing sentences; and writing very long sentences which could sometimes form a whole long paragraph – yes, many African languages are wordy and we want to empty everything we know into the sentence!
After graduating from OCMS (University of Wales) in 2013, I decided to go back to Kenya and see what difference I could make to students in any of the universities. I had tried to work in universities in the UK, but I did not feel needed there. For the last 10 years I have been teaching courses and supervising Masters thesis at Daystar University, Nairobi Kenya.
Through the years of supervision, I have found myself experiencing what my thesis supervisors went through with me and worse. I tell my students to put in the comma, the fullstop, the references, whole sections and many other things my supervisors never had to tell me to put in my thesis because I followed the guide.
On a higher level, there is normalised impunity seen in students giving up on their thesis journeys after being supervised for many years without completion (remember our universities only pay supervisors if the student graduates).
A student taking as long as they want with their thesis journey because they are busy with other things causes supervisors to constantly wonder why they enrolled for the degree in the first place (universities seem hesitant to drop such students from the programmes which causes huge backlogs but reserves students’ opportunity to return and complete their theses). (Yes, here is one of my long sentences…)
Although I have never worked in any other African country, I feel like Kenya is a special country to work in academia. Special because I need special grace to supervise theses – more grace than my supervisors needed to supervise my thesis. Indeed, Kenya has bigger problems than placing a comma in a sentence.
More about Beatrix Mbogoh and her work
Dr. Beatrice Mbogoh from Daystar University’s School for Communication and Media Studies says, “The media shift to online platforms and media convergence require converged newsrooms, promoting growth and particular challenges.”
The need for increased resources, such as up-to-date computers and multimedia software, significantly impacts media studies in Kenyan universities. “Kenya’s media sector has adapted to global trends and developments by using mobile phones for news coverage and production,” stated Dr. Mbogoh. Reflectively, Dr. Mbogoh said the change in political regime and the implementation of new taxation regimes in Kenya have impacted the number of students who can afford journalism education in Kenya and the surrounding region.
Moreover, Dr. Mbogoh advanced the cause of increasing media education in Kenya. More education in the form of training workshops and seminars, more finance, particularly for better equipment, and more exposure to advanced media systems outside the country so that they grasp what works and how it works.
You can read her profile at Daystar University here.