Professor Tanja Bosch

Professor of Media Studies and Production

Professor Tanja Bosch is the author of Broadcasting Democracy: Radio and Identity in South Africa (HSRC Press, 2017), Social Media and Everyday Life in South Africa (Routledge 2020); co-editor of Digital Citizenship in Africa (Zed Books, 2023), and Digital Feminist Citizenship in Africa (Bloomsbury, 2025); as well co-editor of the Routledge Companion to Social Media and Politics (2nd edition, forthcoming). Her research includes work on decolonising digital methods, digital citizenship, and social media culture and activism. She is currently involved in projects researching social media apps and digital intimacies, AI in teaching and learning, and decolonising media and communication research. Professor Bosch is the Editor of African Journalism Studies and Associate Editor of Communication Theory. She is also Chairperson of the African Digital Rights Network (https://www.africandigitalrightsnetwork.org/) and she currently holds the position of National Research Foundation South African Research (SARChI) Chair in Digital Media Sociology.

Prof Bosch is an NRF B-rated scholar.

 

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