Covering the Distant Other: Discursive Construction of the Makoko Community in Nigeria as “Venice of Africa”

Abstract

ABSTRACT Journalistic texts are sites for the construction of meaning. Through their work, journalists construct, enact, and sustain identities and social realities. In particular, journalistic representations of poverty have implications for how poverty is perceived and addressed, and although extensive research has examined media representations of domestic poverty in the United States, very little is known about how American news organizations represent poverty in other contexts. Nonetheless, Western media have been criticized for presenting a homogenizing and totalizing image of Africa as the “dark continent.” This study explores CNN’s representation of Makoko, a low-income community in Nigeria, as the “Venice of Africa.” Critical discourse analysis of CNN stories about Makoko published between 2012 and 2023 reveals a complicated practice. CNN constructed different identities for Makoko, such as victim, achiever, and spectacle, thereby challenging notions of stereotypical representations of countries in Africa by Western media. However, a predominant focus on success, and the discursive strategy of transforming suffering into artistic spectacle, suggests an exclusive ideology, which contributes to a public ambivalence toward addressing the structural issues faced by this community.