Communication is the infrastructure that makes dialogue real
Across a continent long divided by colonial languages, competing politics, and uneven development, African scholars are being called to examine a deceptively simple question: how do Africans speak to one another? The African Council for Communication Education, convening its 27th annual conference in Nigeria this November, has placed communication at the center of the continent's oldest aspiration — unity — inviting researchers to explore whether media, journalism, and dialogue can do what history and politics have so far left unfinished.
- Africa's dream of unity keeps colliding with the hard realities of linguistic fragmentation, ideological rivalry, and economic inequality inherited from colonialism.
- ACCE Nigeria is sounding an urgent call: scholars and practitioners across the continent must bring rigorous research to bear on how communication can bridge these persistent divides.
- The conference theme — 'Communication, politics and intra-African dialogue' — signals that media is not a passive observer of African integration but a potential architect of it.
- Research submissions are being sought across journalism, film, advertising, development communication, and organizational communication, casting a wide net for disciplinary perspectives.
- With an abstract deadline of August 24, 2026, and the conference set for November at Delta State Polytechnic in Oghara, Nigeria, the window for scholars to shape this conversation is open but closing.
The African Council for Communication Education is preparing for its 27th annual conference, and the question it has chosen to center is one that has haunted the continent for generations: how can Africans genuinely communicate across the barriers that separate them?
Prof. Abdullahi Saleh Bashir, president of ACCE's Nigerian chapter, frames African unity as both a historical longing and a practical imperative. Shared history, common identity, and geographic proximity all point toward a continent that should be able to act as one. Yet the obstacles — linguistic divisions born of colonialism, competing political ideologies, and deep economic disparities — remain stubbornly real.
Communication, in Bashir's view, is not a neutral force in this struggle. Media, journalism, film, and advertising are shaped by political choices and economic constraints, but they also carry genuine potential to foster the intra-African dialogue that could turn aspiration into action. ACCE Nigeria has organized its conference around this conviction, welcoming research across journalism and media studies, development communication, advertising, film and multimedia, and business and organizational communication.
The conference will run from November 10 to 13, 2026, at the Department of Mass Communication at Delta State Polytechnic in Oghara, Delta State. Researchers and practitioners across the continent are invited to submit abstracts of no more than 250 words by August 24, 2026. For those working on African integration, media's role in public life, or the mechanics of cross-border dialogue, it is a timely invitation to help shape how Africa speaks to itself.
The African Council for Communication Education is preparing for its 27th annual conference this November, and it is calling for researchers and scholars to submit work on a question that has preoccupied the continent for generations: how can Africans talk to one another across the barriers that divide them?
The conference theme—"Communication, politics and intra-African dialogue"—reflects a conviction held by Prof. Abdullahi Saleh Bashir, president of ACCE's Nigerian chapter, that African unity remains both a historical aspiration and a practical necessity. From the pre-colonial era through today, he notes, Africans have expressed a desire to act as one people. The reasons are substantial: shared history, common identity, geographic proximity, and values that bind the continent together. Yet the obstacles are equally real.
Those obstacles are not abstract. They are linguistic—the legacy of colonialism has left Africa divided into anglophone, francophone, lusophone, and arabophone zones. They are political and ideological, rooted in competing visions of governance and power. They are economic, reflecting vast disparities in resources and development. Despite these divisions, Bashir observes, Africa shares a common destiny. The question is whether Africans can build the mechanisms to act on that shared fate.
This is where communication enters the picture. Media and journalism, advertising and film, the tools of dialogue and persuasion—these are not neutral instruments. They are shaped by political decisions and constrained by economic resources. Yet they also hold potential. If deployed thoughtfully, communication can bridge the gaps that keep African nations and peoples isolated from one another. It can foster the kind of intra-African dialogue that turns aspiration into action.
ACCE Nigeria has chosen this theme precisely because the organization believes scholarship and rigorous thinking can illuminate the path forward. The conference will welcome research across five areas: journalism and media studies; development communication; advertising and marketing; film and multimedia; and business and organizational communication. Each discipline brings its own lens to the central question: how do we talk across difference?
The call is open to researchers and practitioners across the continent. Prospective participants must submit abstracts of no more than 250 words. The deadline is August 24, 2026. The conference itself will take place from November 10 to 13, 2026, at the Department of Mass Communication at Delta State Polytechnic in Oghara, Delta State, Nigeria. For scholars working on questions of African integration, media's role in public discourse, or the mechanics of cross-border dialogue, this represents a significant opportunity to contribute to a conversation that will shape how Africa communicates with itself.
Notable Quotes
Communication and media have an important role to play in promoting intra-African unity through dialogue, though they remain subject to political decisions and economic resources.— Prof. Abdullahi Saleh Bashir, ACCE Nigerian Chapter President
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does ACCE think communication is the right lens for African unity right now?
Because unity isn't just a political goal—it's a conversation that has to happen. You can sign trade agreements and form blocs, but if people can't actually talk to each other across language and ideology, those structures remain hollow. Communication is the infrastructure that makes dialogue real.
But you mentioned barriers—linguistic, political, economic. Doesn't that make the problem harder, not easier?
It does. That's precisely why the research matters. These barriers are real and deep. But they're not immovable. Understanding how they work, how media reinforces them or can overcome them—that's what scholarship can do. It's not naive optimism. It's clear-eyed problem-solving.
Who is this conference really for? Academics, or people working in media?
Both. The five focus areas—journalism, development communication, advertising, film, organizational communication—they span the academy and the industry. A journalist in Lagos and a media scholar in Accra and a marketing professional in Nairobi all have something to contribute to this question.
What happens after the conference? Does the research go somewhere?
That depends on the quality of the work and the networks that form. ACCE is a continental organization. If the papers are strong, they circulate. They influence how media professionals think about their work. They inform policy conversations. The conference itself is the beginning, not the end.
Is there a risk that this becomes just talk—another gathering where people discuss African unity without changing anything?
There's always that risk. But the alternative is silence. At least this creates a space where people working on these problems can learn from each other, see what's being tried elsewhere, build relationships. That's how change starts.