Asserting identity in stifling spaces: multisemioticity in Nigerian queer-positive Instagram

ABSTRACT

Queer visibility continues to be a mirage in many African countries. Unsurprisingly, the queer community has continued its appropriation of digital spaces in the propagation of its activism for public acceptance, in view of the democratising affordance which such spaces provide. In this study, I analyse 10 purposively selected queer-positive photos from queer_nigeria, nigerianqueerarchives and queer_ng, all from Instagram. Relying on a multisemiotic viewpoint, I examine how these Nigerian Instagram handles wield photos, captions and hashtags as semiotic resources of self-representation and for the reinforcement of identity formation. I apply the analytical tenets of netnography and Computer-Mediated Discourse Analysis to my discussion. In my analyses, I identify these visual representations as performing three critical functions: contesting normative constructs/spaces and asserting queer visibility; documenting Nigerian queer social activism; and asserting the transnationality of queer advocacies. In addition, these representations help to foster a sense of community and group agency – emotive camaraderie relevant to the sustenance and wellbeing of the Nigerian queer community. A significant take-away is that images, and social networking platforms like Instagram, are central to positive self-identification and are used as forms of protest against the stifling space, which the Nigerian physical reality portends to people of queer orientation.

KEYWORDS:

• Queer visibility
• identity
• multisemioticity
• Instagram
• Nigeria

Acknowledgments

This article is part of a study funded by the Africa Humanities Program/The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS). I am grateful for their postdoctoral award. I thank the handlers of the Instagram accounts cited in this study for being real and true to their identities. I also appreciate the rigorous yet constructive insights of the reviewers.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. https://glossary.sil.org/term/narrative-discourse.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the African Humanities Program (AHP)/ACLS.

Notes on contributors

Paul Ayodele Onanuga

Paul Ayodele Onanuga is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English and Literary Studies, Federal University Oye-Ekiti, Nigeria. He received his PhD from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. His research interests revolve around linguistic practices in New Media Studies, queer sexualities on digital media, Nigerian Hip-Hop Studies, and Computer Mediated Communication/Discourse Analysis. He is a member of the Editorial Board of Discourse Context and the Media. He is widely published.