The Internet and Activists’ Digital Media Practices: A case of the Indigenous People of Biafra Movement in Nigeria
Previous studies have highlighted some important contributions that participants’ digital activism play in the process of protest coordination and mobilisation. The literature suggests that individuals’ digital practices contribute to the dynamism of social movements’ actions for social and politica...
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doaj-1b193ac17bdf4b4b8ff417421d47cff42020-11-24T22:01:24ZengThe International Academic ForumIAFOR Journal of Media, Communication & Film2187-06672187-06672019-08-0161235010.22492/ijmcf.6.1.02The Internet and Activists’ Digital Media Practices: A case of the Indigenous People of Biafra Movement in NigeriaEmmanuel S. Nwofe0University of Bradford, UKPrevious studies have highlighted some important contributions that participants’ digital activism play in the process of protest coordination and mobilisation. The literature suggests that individuals’ digital practices contribute to the dynamism of social movements’ actions for social and political change. Across Africa, there is limited literature examining how social actors use the internet or the variations in the use of the internet for socio-political activism. While many studies focused on leaderless mass actions across the world, few focused on social movement organisations, much less in Nigeria. Understanding of the variations in activist’s digital media practices is thereby limited, with the dynamics in the mobilising potentials of the internet in Nigeria under-explored. Second, most studies only focused on the empowering effects of the internet as the main variable, ignoring the concomitant impacts of activists’ media such as radio in the mobilisation efforts of social movements in Africa. This article attempts to fill this gap, by examining variations in IPOB protesters’ digital media practices and their levels of involvement in the Biafra independence struggle. The article aims to understand protesters’ digital support roles, motivations, constraints and sources of mobilising information. Using survey data (N = 113), the article argues that through protesters’ digital media practices in the services of the IPOB protests, complemented with the pervasiveness of Radio Biafra ideological programmes, the idea of Biafra was constituted and made visible in the Nigerian public sphere. Implications of the internet as the only alternative media for African social movements are discussed.https://iafor.org/journal/iafor-journal-of-media-communication-and-film/volume-6-issue-1/article-2/digital activismIPOB movementInternetactivist mediasocial movementBiafraNigeria |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Emmanuel S. Nwofe |
spellingShingle |
Emmanuel S. Nwofe The Internet and Activists’ Digital Media Practices: A case of the Indigenous People of Biafra Movement in Nigeria IAFOR Journal of Media, Communication & Film digital activism IPOB movement Internet activist media social movement Biafra Nigeria |
author_facet |
Emmanuel S. Nwofe |
author_sort |
Emmanuel S. Nwofe |
title |
The Internet and Activists’ Digital Media Practices: A case of the Indigenous People of Biafra Movement in Nigeria |
title_short |
The Internet and Activists’ Digital Media Practices: A case of the Indigenous People of Biafra Movement in Nigeria |
title_full |
The Internet and Activists’ Digital Media Practices: A case of the Indigenous People of Biafra Movement in Nigeria |
title_fullStr |
The Internet and Activists’ Digital Media Practices: A case of the Indigenous People of Biafra Movement in Nigeria |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Internet and Activists’ Digital Media Practices: A case of the Indigenous People of Biafra Movement in Nigeria |
title_sort |
internet and activists’ digital media practices: a case of the indigenous people of biafra movement in nigeria |
publisher |
The International Academic Forum |
series |
IAFOR Journal of Media, Communication & Film |
issn |
2187-0667 2187-0667 |
publishDate |
2019-08-01 |
description |
Previous studies have highlighted some important contributions that participants’ digital activism play in the process of protest coordination and mobilisation. The literature suggests that individuals’ digital practices contribute to the dynamism of social movements’ actions for social and political change. Across Africa, there is limited literature examining how social actors use the internet or the variations in the use of the internet for socio-political activism. While many studies focused on leaderless mass actions across the world, few focused on social movement organisations, much less in Nigeria. Understanding of the variations in activist’s digital media practices is thereby limited, with the dynamics in the mobilising potentials of the internet in Nigeria under-explored. Second, most studies only focused on the empowering effects of the internet as the main variable, ignoring the concomitant impacts of activists’ media such as radio in the mobilisation efforts of social movements in Africa. This article attempts to fill this gap, by examining variations in IPOB protesters’ digital media practices and their levels of involvement in the Biafra independence struggle. The article aims to understand protesters’ digital support roles, motivations, constraints and sources of mobilising information. Using survey data (N = 113), the article argues that through protesters’ digital media practices in the services of the IPOB protests, complemented with the pervasiveness of Radio Biafra ideological programmes, the idea of Biafra was constituted and made visible in the Nigerian public sphere. Implications of the internet as the only alternative media for African social movements are discussed. |
topic |
digital activism IPOB movement Internet activist media social movement Biafra Nigeria |
url |
https://iafor.org/journal/iafor-journal-of-media-communication-and-film/volume-6-issue-1/article-2/ |
work_keys_str_mv |
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