%T Creating dialogue: Children’s soap opera in Kenya
%J Journal of Children and Media
%L discovery10017496
%K media and cultural studies, International, Informal learning, Media and cultural studies, All Children, Media, Rights
%D 2013
%A Liesbeth De Block
%X I discuss audience responses to a children’s soap opera, Junction Juniors, produced and broadcast in Kenya. The soap takes a child’s perspective life in their small rural community. Many of the storylines address controversial topics concerning rights, conflict and democracy. I discuss the principles underlying Entertainment-Education and Communication for Social Change in development contexts and apply them to child audience responses to this soap opera. By shifting from a focus on the ‘message’ to one that prioritises child engagement, the programme challenges notions of the passive child and of ‘rights’ being externally determined. I draw on the notion of ‘refraction’ to explore how children’s rights are reframed and enacted in the contexts of development practice (Reynolds, Nieuwenhuys & Hanson, 2006) and the ways in which media can be a vehicle for this refraction. At a time when the focus is on new mobile communications technologies Junction Juniors is a reminder that television still plays a powerful role in children’s lives.