Faculty
Cecil Blake
Associate Professor
Contact
Office: WWPH 4148
Phone: 412-648-7543
E-mail: cblake@pitt.edu
Qualifications
BS, Public Relations, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale,
MA, International Relations at the University of Chicago
PhD, in Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin.
Areas of Expertise
Areas of expertise include public relations, international and development affairs with particular emphasis on Africa, rhetorical theory and analysis, and intercultural communication.
Selected Honors/Recognition
- Outstanding Faculty Scholarship Award, Indiana University Northwest, 1998.
- Outstanding Teaching Award, 1980 (National Award–USA)
- Outstanding Speakers Award, 1976
- Outstanding Young Man of America, 1976
- Outstanding Contributions (Office of Minority Students Association, State University New York, Buffalo, N.Y.)
- Founding Member and Executive Committee Member, National Youth Movement, Freetown, Sierra Leone, 1963-66
- Founding Member and Chairman, AFRICA-JAPAN Culture and Sports Association (1987)
- Founding member, AFRICA Leadership Forum, Ota, Ogun State, Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1988
- Founding member and Chairman of the Board of Directors, National Organization of Sierra Leoneans in North America 1998-2000
Selected Publications
Blake, Cecil., Intercultural Communication: Roots and Routes: With (Eds) Calloway-Thomas, C. & Stewart, P. New York: Allyn and Bacon. 1999
Blake, Cecil, Public Speaking: A Twenty First Century
Perspective: Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall Hunt, 1995
Blake, Cecil, Through the Prism of African Nationalism: Reflective and Prospective Essays, Freetown, Sierra Leone: W.D. Okrafo-Smart and Co. 1990
Blake, Cecil, Interdisciplinary Approaches to Communication (Eds) With E. Akpati. Lexington, Mass: Ginn Custom publishing, 1983
Blake, Cecil, Handbook of Intercultural Communication. (Eds) With Molefi Asante and Eileen Newmark. Beverly Hills: Sage Publication, 1979
Key Book Chapters
Africana Studies/African National Development
"Cultural warrants and Development Communication in Africa," in Development and Communication in Africa. (Eds), Charles Okigbo and Festus Eribo. Rowman and Littlefield Publishers 2004
"Communication and Governance in Africa: Challenges for the 21st Century," in Africa: Beyond the Post Colonial (Eds) Ola Oduka and Tunde Zack-Williams, Ashgate Publishers 2004
"Communication and Development: Imperatives for an Afrocentric Methodology," with Peter Nwosu and Donald S. Taylor. Book Chapter, in Janice Hamlet, (ed) Afrocentric Visions: Studies in Communication and Culture. Thousand Oaks, CA.: Sage Publications, (1998). Cecil Blake contributed 100% of the Afrocentric qualitative methodology (Rhetorical Methodology), and edited the final manuscript.
Journal Production
Guest Editor–Africana Studies
Blake, Cecil, Guest Editor, EQUID NOVI, (an international journal located in the Republic of South Africa) for a special edition on communication and media in conflict and post-conflict states in Africa. Vol. 26(1), Fall 2005
Blake, Cecil, Guest Editor, GAZETTE: The International Journal for Communication Studies. Vol. 59/Nos.4-5/1997
Selected Refereed Journal Articles
“National Information Strategy for a Post-Conflict State: The Sierra Leone Challenge,” EQUID NOVI, Vol 26(1), Fall 2005). Pp 108-127
“An African nationalist Ideology Framed in Diaspora and the Development Quagmire: Any Hope for a Renaissance?” Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 35, May 2005. pp. 573-596.
"The Role of Peace Communication in Conflict Resolution in Africa," Journal of Black Studies Vol. 28, No. 3, January, 1998, pp. 309-318
"Democratization: The Dominant Imperative for National Communication Policies in Africa in the 21st Century," GAZETTE: The International Journal for Communication Studies. Vol. 59/No.4-5/ October, 1997. Pp. 253-269
"Afrocentric Tokens: Afrocentric Methodology in Rhetorical Analysis," The Howard Journal of Communication, issue Vol. 8(1) (Jan-Mar 1997)
"Traditional African Values and the Right to Communicate," Africa Media Review, Vol. 7, #3, Dec., 1993. pp. 1-17
"Development Communication Revisited: An End to Eurocentric Visions" Development: Journal of the Society for International Development, September, 1993. pp. 8-11
"Application of the New Information and Communication Technologies in Public Relations" Africa Media Review, 1991 Vol. 5 Number 3. pp.19-31
"Communication and Development and the Cultural Synchronization of Africa and its People," Africa Media Review, December 1988. pp.17-27
"Understanding African National Development: Some Challenges to Communication Specialists," Journal of Black Studies, Vol.12, #2, December 1981. pp.201-217
"The Rastafarians and Their Message: A Rhetoric of African Redefinition," Western Journal of Black Studies, December, 1981. Vol.4, #4. pp. 286-29
"Communication Research and African National Development," Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 10, #2, December, 1979. pp.218-230.
Public Service: National and International
- Cabinet Minister of Information and Broadcasting and Chief Government Spokesman, Government of Sierra Leone (May 2001-2002)
- Senior Program Officer, Information Sciences and Systems Division, International Development Research Center, Nairobi, Kenya
- Senior Program Officer, Global Learning Division, United Nations University. Tokyo, Japan
Professional Associations/Activities
- Member, Editorial Board, Africa Media Review
- Member, Editorial Board, Journal of African Communication
- Member, Editorial Advisory Board, Journal of African Social Sciences and Humanities
- Former Member, Editorial Board, Journal of Black Studies
- Member, African Council on Communication Education
- Chair, Division of Rhetoric and Culture, African Council on Communication Education.
- Member, National Communication Association (Former member of SCA Legislative Council, and executive council member of the SCA Black Caucus).
- Member, African Studies Association
- Member, National Council on Black Studies
- Member of the Board of Directors, PANOS Institute West Africa.
