Organizing and Communicating in the Global South: Actor-Network and Postcolonial Perspectives on Faith-Based Organizations During the Polio Vaccination Stoppage in Nigeria

• In Event: B.E.S.T.: Communication Networks in and Between Organizations

Abstract

The growing movement toward the internationalization of organizational communication includes calls for research on the Global South and postcolonial foci on indigenous forms of organizing and the foregrounding of marginalized voices. I contribute to the internationalization movement by drawing on the Montreal School’s actor-network theory and postcolonial theory to excavate the voices of Islamic faith-based organizations (FBOs)—through their hybrid associations with spokespersons and Nigerian news texts—during the polio vaccination stoppage in Northern Nigeria (which led to national and international crises with continuing impact). I found the FBOs articulating several obstacles to interorganizational cooperation over polio eradication: different health priorities between international health organizations (IHOs) and the FBOs, a criminal collusion (between IHOs, the Nigerian government, and the US) to depopulate Nigeria, and different FBO interpretations of test results for vaccination contamination. I conclude with the implications for organizational communication theories and practice.

Author

• James O. Olufowote, The University of Oklahoma