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

Abstract

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.