Pan-Africanism as a Laughing Matter: (Funny) Expressions of African Identity on Twitter

• In Event: EXTENDED SESSION PART 2: Global Communication and Social Change in African Contexts

Abstract

Pan-Africanism, a concept that attempts to capture the essence of being an African, needs to be reconsidered in the age of interactive social media. In this chapter, we look at how Twitter users negotiate the question of African identity through humourous hashtag-driven conversations. We specifically interrogate the question whether a new kind of Pan-Africanism is emerging on Africa’s Twitterverse through the use of a popular hashtag in 2015, #IfAfricaWasABar. In our analysis of tweets linked to #IfAfricaWasABar, we conclude that Twitter provides temporary solidarity by engaging users in humorous exchanges about socio-cultural, political and economic issues that define the African continental condition today.

Authors

• David Kimutai Cheruiyot, Karlstad U

• Charu Uppal, Karlstad U