Digital citizenship in Nigeria: gender, politics and resistance on X

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorBosch, Tanja
dc.contributor.advisorNyamnjoh , Francis
dc.contributor.authorAtaguba, Ochega
dc.date.accessioned2026-10-28T11:49:00Z
dc.date.available2026-10-28T11:49:00Z
dc.date.issued2026
dc.date.updated2026-10-27T12:38:14Z
dc.description.abstractThis study investigates how citizenship and civic engagement were reimagined through the use of X (formerly Twitter) during Nigeria's 2023 national election season. Drawing on theories of digital citizenship and intersectionality, it examines how ten prominent hashtags were resignified as spaces of radicalised citizenship, enabling citizens to subvert, negotiate, and contest state power. The study adopts a natively digital methods approach, combining thirteen months of digital ethnography with reflexive thematic analysis of publicly available tweets. It explores how digital acts of calling, opening, and closing illustrate both the emancipatory and exclusionary dynamics of online civic participation and activism. Findings reveal that ordinary Nigerians used X to make rights claims, construct counter-hegemonic networks, and reconfigure citizenship from below, while also reproducing exclusionary discourses through disinformation, misogyny, and homophobia. Through these processes, citizen subjects strategically traversed the boundaries of obedience, submission and subversion to renegotiate their civic commitments and reclaim the political field. The study takes a substantive view of digital citizenship, not just as belonging, rights, duties, and contestation, but as an exercise of political subjectivity and an ongoing negotiation of belonging and resistance, especially in a social context where nondominant classes and everyday citizens were previously denied the communicative privileges to dissent. Ultimately, the study highlights how X is actively shaping, contesting and redefining citizenship, offering hope for a more expressive, visible and inclusive citizenship regime in Nigeria. It argues that more than ever, what constitutes digital citizenship on X in Nigeria now includes the enormous natively digital data produced by everyday citizens on social media who subvert hegemonic norms and cultures. The study contributes to Global South scholarship by showing how digital platforms simultaneously enable and constrain democratic participation, reshaping the terrain of political subjectivity in contemporary Nigeria.
dc.identifier.apacitationAtaguba, O. (2026). <i>Digital citizenship in Nigeria: gender, politics and resistance on X</i>. (). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Centre for Film and Media Studies. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/43896en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationAtaguba, Ochega. <i>"Digital citizenship in Nigeria: gender, politics and resistance on X."</i> ., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Centre for Film and Media Studies, 2026. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/43896en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationAtaguba, O. 2026. Digital citizenship in Nigeria: gender, politics and resistance on X. . University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Centre for Film and Media Studies. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/43896en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Ataguba, Ochega AB - This study investigates how citizenship and civic engagement were reimagined through the use of X (formerly Twitter) during Nigeria's 2023 national election season. Drawing on theories of digital citizenship and intersectionality, it examines how ten prominent hashtags were resignified as spaces of radicalised citizenship, enabling citizens to subvert, negotiate, and contest state power. The study adopts a natively digital methods approach, combining thirteen months of digital ethnography with reflexive thematic analysis of publicly available tweets. It explores how digital acts of calling, opening, and closing illustrate both the emancipatory and exclusionary dynamics of online civic participation and activism. Findings reveal that ordinary Nigerians used X to make rights claims, construct counter-hegemonic networks, and reconfigure citizenship from below, while also reproducing exclusionary discourses through disinformation, misogyny, and homophobia. Through these processes, citizen subjects strategically traversed the boundaries of obedience, submission and subversion to renegotiate their civic commitments and reclaim the political field. The study takes a substantive view of digital citizenship, not just as belonging, rights, duties, and contestation, but as an exercise of political subjectivity and an ongoing negotiation of belonging and resistance, especially in a social context where nondominant classes and everyday citizens were previously denied the communicative privileges to dissent. Ultimately, the study highlights how X is actively shaping, contesting and redefining citizenship, offering hope for a more expressive, visible and inclusive citizenship regime in Nigeria. It argues that more than ever, what constitutes digital citizenship on X in Nigeria now includes the enormous natively digital data produced by everyday citizens on social media who subvert hegemonic norms and cultures. The study contributes to Global South scholarship by showing how digital platforms simultaneously enable and constrain democratic participation, reshaping the terrain of political subjectivity in contemporary Nigeria. DA - 2026 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town KW - Digital citizenship KW - Performative citizenship KW - Social media (X / Twitter) KW - Elections &amp KW - Disinformation KW - 2023 Nigerian Presidential Election. LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2026 T1 - Digital citizenship in Nigeria: gender, politics and resistance on X TI - Digital citizenship in Nigeria: gender, politics and resistance on X UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/43896 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/43896
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationAtaguba O. Digital citizenship in Nigeria: gender, politics and resistance on X. []. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Centre for Film and Media Studies, 2026 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/43896en_ZA
dc.language.isoen
dc.language.rfc3066eng
dc.publisher.departmentCentre for Film and Media Studies
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanities
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subjectDigital citizenship
dc.subjectPerformative citizenship
dc.subjectSocial media (X / Twitter)
dc.subjectElections &amp
dc.subjectDisinformation
dc.subject2023 Nigerian Presidential Election.
dc.titleDigital citizenship in Nigeria: gender, politics and resistance on X
dc.typeThesis / Dissertation
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoral
dc.type.qualificationlevelPhD
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
thesis_hum_2026_ataguba ochega.pdf
Size:
9.18 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.72 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download
Collections
PhD / Doctoral