Contact Info

Room 606, Arts Building (KwaDlangezwa Campus)

Phone: +27 35 902 6167

Dr RM Metso

Head of Department

Qualifications:

B Ed. (NUL), BA (Hons), (UND), MA (UKZN), PhD (UNIZULU)

About

Dr Marathane Reggy Metso started to work at the Department of Communication of the University of Zululand (UZ) in 2008. He has had several work positions such as his engagement at Curious Culture on SABC 2, under the guidance of Mr Lichaba Nthethe and Mr Jerry Mofokeng. For a period after this, he lectured at Durban University of Technology (DUT). At the same time, he was a free-lance journalist for a number of Lesotho national newspaper groups, including Public Eye and Informative.

‘Mopheme’, Dr Metso’s pen name, has written several plays and dramas for theatre. These include Maemo ngoan’aka and Koto ka Lesokoana. Not varsity but VCT is a video-taped play that he wrote and directed as part of his studies at the University of Natal, now UKZN, along with Dr Tesfu from Eritrea and Prof Peter Mhagama from Malawi.

The multi-talented ‘Mopheme’ also excels in sport and is an ex-specialist in 800m, Today, he has shifted to long distances and is now a care-taker-coach of UZ athletics. He pioneers this as part of a ‘community-outreach’ programme under the auspices of the Department of Communication Science. He has partnered with Mr Bethel Mutanga from Zimbabwe in aerobics where they focus on kata-box (from karate and boxing in combination) and physical training (the loss of fat and maintenance of physique) with eSikhaleni and Virgin Active gyms, respectively.

As a lecturer and researcher, Dr Metso specialises in the fields of Media Studies and of Marketing and Advertising. His interest is in the use and the impact of media in society and the relationship between the two. This interest emanates from the tug of war in South Africa where media democracy is being impeded by the Government’s proposal of a so-called State Protection of the Information Bill. He is a scientific committee member of the MEDCOM, The International Institute of Knowledge Management

Research Interests

 

  • Media and Cultural Studies
  • Citizenry Journalism
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Social Media