AN AFROCENTRIC ANATOMY OF MPOFU’S SOCIAL MEDIA ROAR

Abstract

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram and etc have received the attention of the scholars in Media and Communication Studies, Political Science, Public Administration and other cognate academic disciplines. From the academic literature produced thus far, it is clear that social media is not uniformly understood even by those who research, write and publish from a common epistemic vintage point, which is largely dominated by Westernised consciousness. As such, this desktop paper employs Afrocentricity as an alternative and contextual lens to dissect Shepherd Mpofu’s recent Facebook roar. The latter is complimented by a few rants featured on other platforms including but not limited to WhatsApp and Twitter. The main argument of this paper is that due to their less regulated nature, Facebook and other social media platforms have become useful tools for nursing the tortured consciousness of Mpofu and et al whose egos have been injured by what appears to be an invalidation of their past intellectual contributions on Gukurahundi.