The Faculty of Integrated Communication Sciences (FICS) at the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) held its first Research Seminar for the 2020/2021 academic year on Thursday, July 8th, 2021. The Research Seminar which was organized in collaboration with the Directorate of Research, Innovation and Development (DRID) at the Institute sought to allow faculty members to present and discuss their ongoing and recently published research projects in the field of communication studies.
The Seminar was addressed by Dr Joseph Obeng-Baah, lecturer in the Department of Communication Studies. Dr Obeng-Baah presented a research paper titled “Discursive production of social conflict in resource extraction contexts: A case study of a multinational gold mining project in the Eastern Region of Ghana”. The research paper is product of his doctoral dissertation entitled – “Unearthing the undercurrents of social conflict in a multinational gold mining project community in the Eastern Region of Ghana” which was submitted to the Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University, Virginia, USA in 2018.
During his presentation, Dr Obeng-Baah indicated that he used the qualitative single case study embedded approach to examine the similarities and differences in the discursive production of social conflict in two mining communities (Yaayaso and Hweakwae) in the Eastern Region of Ghana. The findings and discussions of the research were within the positioning analysis framework. Among other things, it emerged that the relationship between the affected mining communities and the mining company was marked by power asymmetry and tension which occasioned the onset and nurturing of hostile discourses around the impact of the mine that significantly shaped the community-company relationship.
The Faculty Research Seminar took place at the auditorium of the North Dzorwulu campus of GIJ. It was attended by a cross-section of Faculty members including Dr Modestus Fosu, Dean of FICS, Dr Stanley Semarco, Dean, School of Alternative learning, and Mr Stephen Frimpong Manso, Head of Advertising Department. The event was chaired by Dr Este Sikanku, Director of DRID.