Bibliology scientist from Mainz honoured for her degree thesis about book markets in anglophone Africa
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| Merle Schierenberg | |
For the sixth time, the Media Foundation of Sparkasse Leipzig and the Institute of Communication and Media Studies of the University of Leipzig have awarded the 2,500 Euros
"Promotion Prize of Bibliology" of the Media Foundation of Sparkasse Leipzig.
This year’s laureate is Merle Schierenberg, a bibliology scientist from Mainz, who has been awarded for her master thesis
From ruthless dominance to responsible coexistence? The role of British-multinational publishing houses on the development of book markets in anglophone Africa.
The master thesis was developed at the Institute of Bibliology at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz. It was supervised by Professor Ernst Fischer.
The "Promotion Prize of Bibliology" of the Media Foundation of Sparkasse Leipzig is awarded in memory of the book scientist Professor Dietrich Kerlen from Leipzig. Time and place of Merle Schierenberg’s award ceremony are still to be announced.
From the decision of the jury:
"In her study, Schierenberg draws a balanced and richly didactic picture of the most important book markets of the African continent from the 1960s until now. According to her studies, British publishing houses are quite contributing to the basic supply of books within most of the investigated countries. But the presence of multinational corporations such as Oxford University Press, Heinemann, Macmillan, Longman etc., which is still dominant, has also negative impacts on the development: Independent publishing houses in many book markets of Africa are only thriving slowly. On the basis of her study, the prize-winner assigns specific tasks to the governments of the investigated countries: In future, they should show a clear commitment to establish adequate economic policy conditions for a publishing industry to enable a juxtaposition of local and British-multinational publishing houses at least.
The 'Promotion Prize of Bibliology' 2010 of the Media Foundation of Sparkasse Leipzig awards Merle Schierenberg’s master thesis because of the exceptional topic and the methodologically skilled, linguistically splendid, in terms of content extensive and circumspect judging investigation of the anglophone book markets of Africa."
The "Promotion Prize of Bibliology" is directed at graduates from universities and technical colleges of higher education, as well as scientists from the German language area, who have dealt with problems concerning bibliology in their final or qualification assignments (master thesis, B.A. or M.A. exams; though no dissertations!). The assignments must be unpublished. In the broadest sense, bibliology comprises the materiality and the essence of books, as well as social, economic, cultural, judicial and institutional conditions of the manufacturing, distribution and adoption of books in past and present.