Chapters: The concept of communication African communication systems and reasons for studying African communication systems -- African communication systems and mass communication compared -- Classification of the traditional channels of communication in Africa -- Verbal and non-verbal communication : introduction -- Verbal and Non-verbal communication compared -- Overview of visual channels of communication and pigmentation /colours as a group of visual channels -- Appearance: physical look and costume / facial marks and tattoos / records -- Iconographic channels of communication: objectified devices, florals, plants and crops -- The concept of instrumental communication -- Idiophones -- Membraneophones -- Membraneophones in south-west Nigeria -- Aerophones -- The concept of demonstrative communication -- Music -- Dance and song -- Poetry, charts and incantations -- Signals, signs and symbolography.

Digital communication as it is practiced in Africa today is at a crossroad. This edited collection takes that crossroad as its starting point, as it both examines the complicated present and looks to the uncertain future of African communication systems. Contributing authors explore how western digital communication systems have proliferated in the African communication landscape, and argue that rich and long-cherished African forms of communal, in-person communication have been increasingly abandoned in favor of assimilation to western digital norms. As a result, future generations of Africans born on the continent and abroad may never recognize and appreciate African systems of communications. Acknowledging that globalized digital communication systems are here to stay, the volume contends that in order to comprehend the past, present, and future of African communications, scholars need to decolonize their approach to teaching and consuming mediated and in-person communications on the African continent and abroad.

The book covers African communication systems, discussing modes and forms of communication across West, East and Southern Africa and comparing them with traditional and new media. African Communication Systems and the Digital Age contextualizes communication by bringing to the table African contributions to the field, examining the importance of African indigenous forms of communication and the intersection of African communication systems and the digital age. The book covers various concepts, models, theories and classifications of African communication systems, including instrumental communication, types of African music and their communication properties, indigenous writing systems, non-verbal communication, and mythological communication. Through careful analysis of communication in Africa, this book provides insights into the various modes of communication in use prior to the advent of traditional and new media as well as their continued relevance in the digital age. African Communication Systems and the Digital Age will be of interest to students and scholars of African communication.