Fostering national identity and socio-economic development: new frontiers for the role of the media and communication in Saint Lucia

This context statement proposes that the traditional role of media and communication in Saint Lucia as mostly an information delivery system must be challenged and reinvented. Within the postcolonial context of Saint Lucian society, the statement posits that media and communication can and should play a catalytic role in national development. Through the critical reflection on and appraisal of the public works submitted, I demonstrate that media and communication can have such a role in two vital areas of national development: national identity and socio-economic development. The first series of public works comprising four television features on the arts seeks to articulate the Saint Lucian national identity as well as to foster public consciousness and appreciation of that identity. They are of ideological importance because a people with a solid sense of their identity can determine the kind of nation they want to build instead of merely imitating external models touted by more powerful countries. The latter set of public works are more concerned with communication strategy utilising a variety of media tools and other methods to encourage social and economic development. These works include a financial literacy television series, sustainability initiatives and policy formulation. At the core of these works is a commitment to the postcolonial project of nation building albeit enacted in different organizational contexts i.e. quasi-public and private sector.
This context statement addresses both theoretical issues and those related to praxis. It aims to present a theoretical model of media and communication in Saint Lucia that emphasises the developmental and transformative dimension of the field. Local practitioners should conceive of media and communication as an ideological resource that can be a part of the discourse on national development and social progress. This necessarily involves a re-thinking of the role of the media professional in the Saint Lucian context. The traditional view of the media practitioner as simply a purveyor of information must give way to a new perspective that promotes the multi-faceted and strategic role of the media professional in organisations and the wider society. This context statement proposes how this can be achieved by examining the issues of leadership, processes and approaches adopted to realise results, and the role of reflection in practice. All of these considerations impact how the profession is actually practised and can lead to a transformation of the current paradigm.