Kontext als Grundlage für Kommunikation in Afrika
Contextual Determinants of Communication in Africa

Summary/Abstract: The article indicates the importance of the context in the interpretation of events and the inter-ethnical relationships in West Africa. Traditional societies, treating human identity in terms of relationships, insist on the interpretation of the circumstances of the events happening. An important role in the everyday life is played by the so-called situational context that allows the supplementing of verbal communication. It is the subject of the first part of the article. The second part refers to the socio-political context. The context allows giving a proper interpretation of the events, because Africans believe nothing happens without a profounder reason. Moreover, the present author points to the role of moral panic as a contextual framework that imposes an interpretation which is, for example, in accordance with the paradigm of witchcraft. The third part of the article is devoted to the role of context in the adoption of foreign remittances. Based on the example of mass conversions of the Dagbani people, the author shows the importance of the confluence of certain external circumstances in the evangelisation of the people.

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