Professor Tanja Bosch

Professor of Media Studies and Production

Prof. Tanja Bosch completed her undergraduate studies in English and History (BA, Hons) at the University of Cape Town, before working in the local film and community radio sectors. She completed her MA in International Affairs with a specialisation in Communication and Development Studies while a Fulbright Scholar at Ohio University, where she also graduated with a PhD in Telecommunications. Her PhD dissertation was awarded the US-based Broadcast Educational Association (BEA) Outstanding Dissertation Award in 2004.

Prof. Bosch is former Programme Manager and Station Manager of local community radio station Bush Radio, and has also worked as a consultant for UNESCO community radio stations in Jamaica and Trinidad; and as consultant and trainer for various South African community radio stations and NGOs. She currently serves on the boards of Fine Music Radio 101.3FM, Rx Radio and the Hugo Lambrechts Music Trust.

Bosch conducts research and has published in the following areas: community radio, talk radio and citizenship, health communication, youth and mobile media, identity and social networking. She holds a C1 National Research Foundation (NRF) rating and is currently involved in several collaborative international research projects. Her first book, Broadcasting Democracy: Radio and Identity in South Africa, was published by the HSRC Press in 2017. Her second monograph, Social Media and Everyday Life in South Africa (Routledge, 2021) explores how South Africans use social media apps for personal and group identity formation. Dr Bosch has published widely in the field of radio studies in South Africa; and is currently emerging as one of a few African academics publishing in the area of social media activism, with her work on #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall and other hashtagged campaigns.

https://www.routledge.com/Social-Media-and-Everyday-Life-in-South-Africa/Bosch/p/book/9780367280796

Selected Recent Publications:

  • Reneses, P and Bosch, T. 2023. The limitations of hashtag feminist activism on South African Twitter: A Case Study of #menaretrash and #womenaretrash. Men and Masculinities. https://doi.org/10.1177/1097184X231188681
  • Bosch, T., & Wasserman, H. (2023). South African tabloid coverage of Covid19: The Daily Sun. Media, Culture & Society, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437221140514

  •  Bosch, T. (2022). Decolonizing digital methods. Communication Theory.

  • Reneses, P and Bosch, T. (2022). Networked masculinities in South Africa: The #MensConference as a case study. NORMA: International Journal for Masculinity Studies.

  • Schoon, A., Mabweazara, H., Bosch, T., and Dugmore, H. 2021. Decolonising digital media research methods: Positioning African digital experiences as epistemic sites of knowledge production. African Journalism Studies 41(4) https://doi.org/10.1080/23743670.2020.1865645

  • Wasserman, H., Chuma, W., Bosch, T., Uzuegbunam, C. & Flynn, R. (2021). South African newspaper coverage of Covid-19: a content analysis. Journal of African Media Studies 13(3) https://doi.org/10.1386/jams_00052_1

  • Bosch, T. and Roberts, T. 2021. South Africa Digital Rights Landscape Report. In T. Roberts (ed.), Digital Rights in Closing Civic Space: Lessons from Ten African Countries, Brighton: Institute of Development Studies. DOI: 10.19088/IDS.2021.010

  • Bosch, T. 2021. Using a quantitative research approach in social media research. In An introduction to social media research: Theory and application. Edited by Charmaine du Plessis and Ashiya Abdool Satar. ISBN 97848530840

  • Bosch, T. 2020. Social media and everyday life in South Africa. Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Social-Media-and-Everyday-Life-in-South-Africa/Bosch/p/book/9780367280796

  • Bosch, T., Mare, A., and Ncube, M. 2020. Facebook and Politics in Africa: Zimbabwe and Kenya. Media, Culture and Society. 42(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443719895194

  • Smit, A. and Bosch, T. 2020. Television and Black Twitter in South Africa: Our Perfect Wedding. Media, Culture and Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443720926040

  • Bosch, T., Thierry M. Luescher, and Nkululeko Makhubu. 2020. Chapter 14. Twitter and student leadership in South Africa: the case of #FeesMustFall pp 220-234. In Power Shift? Political leadership and social media. Edited by Richard Davis and David Taras. Routledge: New York & London.

  • Bosch, T. 2019. Chapter 7. Theorising and researching audiences and users. Media Studies: Decolonising concepts and counterpoints. Edited by Mehita Iqani and Sarah Chiumbu. 96-111. OUP Press.

  • Bosch, T. (2019). Chapter 4: Social Media and Protest Movements in South Africa: #FeesMustFall and #ZumaMustFall in Social Media and Politics in Africa. Edited by Tom Molony and Maggie Dwyer. Zed Books.

  • Bosch, T., Wasserman, H., and Chuma, W. (2019). Chapter 5. Communication strategies of civil society organisations: Communication technologies, nanomedia and the mobilisation of public opinion. In Contested transitions: Media, communication and the struggle for democratic change. Edited by Katrin Voltmer. Palgrave Macmillan.

  • Sorensen, L., Ford, H., Al-Saqaf, W., Bosch, T., and Voltmer, K. (2019). Chapter 10. Dialogue of the Deaf: Listening on Twitter and government responsiveness during the 2015 South African State of the Nation Address. In Contested transitions: Media, communication and the struggle for democratic change. Edited by Katrin Voltmer. Palgrave Macmillan. 

  • Bosch, T. 2021. Using a quantitative research approach in social media research. In An introduction to social media research: Theory and application. Edited by Charmaine du Plessis and Ashiya Abdool Satar. ISBN 97848530840