Comics Activism and Political Consciousness in Nigeria: Assessing Digital Privileges and Media Pathways

• In Event: Pop Culture and The Framing of Politics

Abstract

Activism takes on many forms in pluralistic societies - from street demonstrations to sit-ins, rallies and petitions. Politically-conscious publics in extant expressions of modernity and innovativeness leverage the affordances of digital technologies to reinvent how activism is done. This manifests through episodes of social media activism, which has enabled the moulding of public consciousness and debate around several socio-economic and political issues. Furthermore, the popularity of several social media platforms have stimulated comics activism as a new coloration of activism among creative African youths. Comics activists in Nigeria, for example, market themselves as seeking to drive political sensitisation, ignite collective political consciousness and speak truth to power by weaving politics with satire. Satirical contents are published through a range of art: skits (short comic films), stand-up comedy, cartoons, music, and mimicking of public office holders – contents often popularised via social media. Some academic studies have assessed how comics can produce activism and how they generate new shared understandings of political realities. Other studies have raised questions about the propensities of political change through comics activism. However, little questions have been raised about the media behind this form of activism. As such, this study asks, how does the media (new and mainstream) mediate comics into activism and a heightened political consciousness? What digital privileges enable comics as a confrontational tool in Nigeria and how do political actors respond? This study sheds new light into the mediation of activist voices and the political (un)appropriateness of comics in Africa.

Author

• Boluwatife Solomon Ajibola, University of Leeds, UK