This thesis is a critical comparative study of the ways in which music is being used as an educational tool for HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa, Brazil, India, China, the U.S., and Canada. Music for education is an aspect of a number of academic disciplines. I introduce the principles of Entertainment-Education and Participatory Communication, which are two methods of conveying education through entertainment. Music cognition, music philosophy, ethnomusicology, sociomusicology, and communication theory offer perspectives on why music is persuasive, emotive, and mnemonic. I present analyses of music HIV/AIDS education efforts from many different regions that employ different methods of music transmission and different musical genres. Some are grassroots interventions, whereas others are large-scale, mass media efforts. I identify a number of high-level themes that emerge from the case studies: music involves the audience, music engages the emotions, music is culturally relevant, music is therapeutic and empowering, and music enhances memory. The case studies highlight a number of specific elements that significantly enhance HIV/AIDS education efforts, elements that should be applied to Canadian efforts. The initiatives that are currently taking place are remarkable, but more efforts are needed to effectively combat the AIDS pandemic. / Arts, Faculty of / Music, School of / Graduate

Entertainment-Education (EE), or ‘Edutainment’ as it has come to be known, is a prominent discipline and communicative practice, both in international and community development, and is utilised to address social issues and culturally specific norms, some of which may be taboo or harmful.  This research sets out to explore the application of edutainment, in particular Theatre for Development (TfD), through an examination of its practice in a Pacific context; namely, a case study of Wan Smolbag Theatre (WSB), a grassroots NGO based in Vanuatu. Using tangible examples of WSB’s theatre work, the interplay between listening, participation, and dialogue will be examined as they bear on WSB’s diverse operations in Vanuatu. It will also be suggested that edutainment and TfD sits at the intersection of communication, culture and development and in fact, requires all three elements in order to be realised.  Through its use of edutainment and TfD, WSB’s core strength lies in its sensitivity and responsiveness to both culture as aesthetic activity and as a way of life, enabling a dialogic, participatory approach that provides a stage for subaltern community voices to identify issues, and importantly, solutions to their own problems.  The Pacific Region poses a complex landscape for development research and the same applies in the area of communication for development and social change. Due to its vast geographical area but often small population sizes, Pacific-focused research and data can be difficult to source, both of a qualitative and quantitative nature. This study aims to address one such gap, while also attempting to situate this research in the wider historical context of edutainment.

Maternal mortality rates in low-income countries remain high and almost two thirds of global maternal deaths are in sub-Saharan Africa (WHO, 2019). Communications interventions such as media and entertainment education initiatives could help improve maternal health outcomes. The aim of this research is to explore this area further; focusing on the case study of ‘Di Kombra Di Krai (Cry of a Mother)’, a maternal health drama produced in Sierra Leone in 2020. The research utilises interviews with key stakeholders in the production, and content analysis, to understand why film is an appropriate medium of communication for maternal health, the processes involved, and the benefits to the participants. This research aims to provide further information that will be beneficial for communication for development professionals and organisations on the role of film in maternal health communication in low-income countries.

This research proposes to investigate the contribution that innovative development projects involving digital games can make to the field of entertainment-education (EE), which has been considered as a communication strategy falling under the media for development approach in the broader field of communication for development (Manyozo, 2012). Studies have shown that EE scholarship and practice is largely rooted in theories of individual behaviour change, but also that new theoretical perspectives deriving from participatory and empowering, as well as cultural approaches to communication are emerging in the field. The prevalence of innovation and of the application of EE principles to new mediums like digital games has also been brought to light (Obregon & Tufte, 2014). Digital games as a vehicle for EE have been analysed through the concept of serious games, or games with a utilitarian purpose, and from a behaviour change perspective (Wang & Singhal, 2009). The present research project aimed at reflecting on serious games and EE from a new perspective through the notion of innovation, and was conducted by means of exploratory and comparative qualitative case study. Findings show that innovation is closely associated with the notions of co-creation and participation. By focusing on a participatory approach to game design, innovative development projects involving digital games fit predominantly in emergent theories in EE, and combine elements of multiple approaches to communication for development, not principally the media for development approach.

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