User:Rjbee21/Choose an Article

Article Selection
Please list articles that you're considering for your Wikipedia assignment below. Begin to critique these articles and find relevant sources.



Option 1: Media in Zambia
Article title: Mass Media in Zambia

Article Evaluation:


 * After evaluating this article, we found that the article was pretty much untouched besides a couple of minor facts that need their sources to be checked. The lead section needs to be expanded a lot. There is a simple overview, but there could definitely be more added. There is a major lack of content, nothing is up to date, and presents a huge gap in information regarding the topic. There is no tone and balance to the article, no academic sources and references for this topic, as well as no images and media present. Overall impressions of the page is that there are defined outlets of media, but nothing expanding on what they are, how they are utilized, or their significance to politics and elections. If given the opportunity to work on this article, my partner and I would fill in the information gap, add images, and give an unbiased account of the facts, presenting a clear and comprehensive analysis of the topic.

Sources


 * 1) Brooke, Peter. “Transnational News Audiences and the Limits of Cultural Decolonisation in Zambia: Media Coverage of the Soweto Uprising of 1976.” Journal of southern African studies 47.4 (2021): 587–603. Web.
 * 2) Article evaluates the Soweto Uprising in 1976, but also analyzes the historical effects of international news coverage, propaganda, and the adaptation of colonial new media outlets and how this ultimately had a large impact on establishing a new culture, as well as a tool for political leaders.
 * 3) “MEDIA: Zambia.” Africa research bulletin. Political, social and cultural series 53.6 (2016): 21056A–21057C. Web.
 * 4) Articles highlight the extent to which media can be utilized to investigate corruption, but then also highlights the limitations of bringing these issues to light due to the power of the executive to tax, create false claims, and then shut down the media outlets for blowing the whistle on the state.
 * 5) Ndawana, Youngson, Joanne Knowles, and Christopher Vaughan. “The Historicity of Media Regulation in Zambia; Examining the Proposed Statutory Self-Regulation.” African journalism studies 42.2 (2021): 59–76. Web.
 * 6) Article looks at the media, and the state’s, attempt to implement a “self-regulating” method of the media after the 1990s, which has increased the lack of freedom of media outlets within Zambia.

Option 2 : Senegal-France Relations
Article title: France-Senegal Relations

Article Evaluation: The article's current content is relevant to the topic but it tends to focus more on the history of the relationship rather than a more modern one. This article does provide a neutral account of the history of the diplomatic relationship. Each claim does have a citation but there are many citations that are reused and the information is coming from a limited amount of sources and relies too heavily on other wikipedia articles on related topics. The article would cover a content gap, specifically in political science and international relations (academic gap), providing more insight into how the background of Senegal and a Francophone territory interacts with its former colonial power diplomatically. There is nothing on the talk page other than showing that the article is part of three Wiki projects, one on France, one on International relations, and one on Africa in general.

The article needs more work on the contemporary diplomatic relationship between the two countries, my partner and I would expand upon this adding more to this heading and creating subheadings underneath it. Subheadings would include, economic relations, cultural and social relations, political relations and treaties, and a section on intergovernmental/ international groups/ UN. We would also build upon a lot of the information that is already there in the historical background. Much of that information is from the Colonization of Senegal wikipedia article so we would add more information as well as more sources to make that section more complete and comprehensive.

Sources:


 * 1) étrangères, Ministère de l’Europe et des Affaires. “Senegal.” France Diplomacy - Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/country-files/senegal/ . Accessed 7 Mar. 2022.
 * 2) This is the French government’s website that outlines a lot of the contemporary diplomatic exchanges between France and Senegal.
 * 3) Chafer, Tony. “France and Senegal: The End of the Affair?” SAIS Review (1989-2003), vol. 23, no. 2, 2003, pp. 155–67. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26996480.
 * 4) This article outlines a tension in the diplomatic relations in the early 2000’s which was not even mentioned at all in the article.
 * 5) “Franco-Senegalese Relations 2000 -2012.” Africa Portal, 1 Jan. 2013, https://www.africaportal.org/publications/franco-senegalese-relations-2000-2012/.
 * 6) An Africa Portal article on French Sengalese relations from 2000 to 2012.

Option 3: Senegalese Women’s Soccer Team
Article title: Senegales Women’s Soccer Team.

Article Evaluation:


 * After evaluating this article, it looks very similar to the “Mass Media of Senegal '' article, but with a lot more stats presented. We found that the article was pretty much untouched besides a couple of minor facts and stats that need their sources to be checked. The lead section needs to be expanded a lot, even though it does give a nice and short introduction. Content is very relative to the topics, but again, there are only numbers and stats presented, nothing explaining the history of soccer, where they played soccer, how the women's team was started, etc. Thus there is a huge information gap that needs to be filled. The organization of the stats and numbers looks great, with a lot of images and media, but it needs some filler information to give a better overview and understanding of the women' s soccer team. Although there are very limited resources on the topic, my partner and I would try and fill in the information gap in order to give a better understanding of the topic at hand. We could possibly also look at other case studies near Senegal and try and apply the same concepts if need be to fill in the gaps.

Sources


 * 1) Saavedra, Martha. “Football Feminine - Development of the African Game: Senegal, Nigeria and South Africa.” Soccer and society 4.2-3 (2003): 225–253. Web.
 * 2) Article illuminates the issues of Women forming a national soccer team, and the political, social, and economic benefits that it can bring. It also highlights the limitations due to the lack of legitimacy and significance given to women's sports in Africa.
 * 3) Baller, Susann. “URBAN FOOTBALL PERFORMANCES: PLAYING FOR THE NEIGHBOURHOOD IN SENEGAL, 1950s–2000s.” Africa (London. 1928)84.1 (2014): 17–35. Web.
 * 4) Article elucidates how youth groups, as well as soccer clubs, and other organizations, have utilized the failed infrastructure spaces, and in transformed the abandoned areas into fields to play soccer, which has helped enhance a national cohesion.

Option 4: Lusaka Manifesto
Article title: Lusaka Manifesto

Article Evaluation: The content in the article is relevant to the topic but mainly focuses on the international events that led to the manifesto as well as the international response to it. It is missing a lot of the content of the manifesto and the aftermath in the region as well. This article has a substantial amount of citations but there is a problem with pulling more direct quotes from the work instead of paraphrasing the content. The citations are reliable, however, and come from a lot of different sources, scholars, and articles. The article tackles the academic/ political equity gap which addresses that lack of political information from African countries. There is not a lot on the talk page, only one modification of a citation and a note that the article is part of the African Wikiproject.

To add to this article my partner and I would add a lot more to the content section of the article, it only provides a brief overview of the manifesto. We would also add to the aftermath section maybe dividing that into geopolitical effects, social effects, economic effects, and subsequent agreements/treaties. I think we would also add more to the significance section and the background section as the information provided is brief and needs more supplemental information.

Sources:


 * 1) African Activist Archive. https://africanactivist.msu.edu/document_metadata.php?objectid=210-808-9076 . Accessed 5 Mar. 2022.
 * 2) This is a link to the actual manifesto itself.
 * 3) Essack, A. K. “Lusaka Manifesto in Retrospect.” Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 5, no. 13, 1970, pp. 558–60. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/4359782.
 * 4) This is an academic article about the aftermath of the manifesto on the region and on an international level.
 * 5) Shamuyaira, N. M. The Lusaka Manifesto on Southern Africa . http://www.journals.udsm.ac.tz/index.php/ar/article/viewFile/616/603.
 * 6) An article from the Africa Review which provides an overview on the contents of the manifesto.