Pavement radio, an expression first popularised by historian
Stephen Ellis in referring to the
grassroots, informal communication networks that relay information, primarily in
urban
Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to:
* Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas
* Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities
Urban may also refer to:
General
* Urban (name), a list of people ...
African settings.
Etymology
''Pavement radio'' is the literal
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
translation of the
French phrase ''radio trottoir'' which in US English would usually be rendered ''sidewalk radio''.
Significance
Particularly interesting to Ellis is the blurred distinction between broadcaster and listener, and the essentially democratic nature of the system (in that a how long-lasting a story is, and how widespread it becomes, and the form it eventually takes, are down to the predominant preferences of the recounters of the story). Pavement radio is mistrusted by a number of academics, journalists and politicians, citing its anonymous nature, and the propensity of the genre to include tales of witchcraft and other ludicrous notions. Ellis, however, argues that pavement radio is a modern continuation of the African
oral tradition
Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another. Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (1985) ...
, and that such ostensibly inconceivable stories are
metaphors
A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared with ...
or are indicative of historic or cultural beliefs, and as such not to be confused with factual news.
Why it might in this way be regarded as distinct from say, Western cultural beliefs,
urban legend
An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...
, rumours and metaphors such as propagated by gossip,
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
social networking services or informal actuality media, Ellis omitted to express definitively, either in the 1995 book
or in later works.
See also
*
Chinese whispers
Chinese whispers (some Commonwealth English) or telephone (American English and Canadian English) is an internationally popular children's game. It is also called transmission chain experiments in the context of cultural evolution research, and ...
*
Grapevine (gossip)
To hear something through the grapevine or on the grapevine is to learn about something via an informal source or hearsay, from another person; it may refer to an overheard conversation or anonymous sources of information. An Australian term used ...
References
{{Reflist
Oral tradition