A scoping review of anglophone scholarship on trauma and journalism in sub-Saharan Africa

This scoping review maps anglophone scholarship on trauma and journalism in and/or about sub-Saharan Africa published between 1990 and 2025. Rather than assuming a single universal definition of trauma, the review examines how trauma is implicitly and explicitly conceptualised within this literature. Drawing on 139 peer-reviewed journal articles identified through searches of four academic databases, the review analyses patterns in trauma type, methodology, country focus, authorship location, and media platform. The findings indicate that trauma is conceptualised inconsistently across the literature, with only 28% of studies explicitly employing the term. Trauma coverage nevertheless closely mirrors regional crisis contexts. Conflict and war dominate studies focused on Nigeria, Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Somalia, while political and societal trauma cluster around election-related violence in Kenya, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe. Violence and crime, particularly gender-based violence, are most prominent in South African scholarship. Since 2010, journalist safety has emerged as a growing area of concern, particularly in Zimbabwe, Nigeria, and South Africa, while health-related trauma remains comparatively marginal despite the continent’s significant disease burden. Qualitative methods dominate the reviewed literature, while quantitative and mixed-methods research remain limited. Patterns of authorship further suggest differences in knowledge production in which Africa-based scholars more frequently produce locally grounded qualitative research, while non-Africa-based scholars disproportionately publish conceptual or theoretical work. The review identifies important conceptual, geographic, and methodological gaps and argues for more contextually grounded and trauma-informed approaches to journalism research relating to sub-Saharan Africa.