“How does social media activism in Nigeria intersect with online popular forms—from GIFs to memes to videos—and become shaped by the repressive postcolonial state that propels resistance to dominant articulations of power?

James Yékú proposes the concept of “cultural netizenship”—internet citizenship and its aesthetico-cultural dimensions—as a way of articulating online self-performance. Yékú not only explores cultural politics by reading hashtags, political cartoons, and protest selfies as visual texts for postcolonial studies, but he also examines how netizens in Nigeria, a nation with one of the most vibrant digital spheres in Africa, perform popular culture on social media as a way to disrupt hegemonic narratives and state power. Each digital product is embedded with social and cultural meanings, all connected to Nigerian political narratives and the performance of civic agency by Nigerian netizens.

A fascinating look at the intersection of social media and pop culture, Cultural Netizenship reveals how participatory politics in Nigeria are transforming the nature of creative expression and the ways people consume cultural texts in Africa.”