‘Perpetual Migrants: Social Media and African Youth’s Search for Utopia’

Dr. Ayobami Ojebode (University of Ibadan, Nigeria)

In this seminar Dr. Ayobami Ojebode will be building upon his research on migration intentions among Nigerian youth. Where is African youth migrating to, physically and digitally, and how do the social media aid or abate this? He looks at what migration means from a social, political and digital perspective, redefining the concept beyond its most common meaning of the movement of people to (other) places. Migration is then also found in migration from one political leader to the other, from Facebook to Twitter to Instagram, etc. He will link these new definitions of migration to Nigerian youth’s imaginary of a perfect existence in a continent under duress, arguing that this utopia might not really exist, but is constructed to serve as a rallying point.

Time: 15:00 – 17:00
Location: Van Wijkplaats 2, room 002 (Leiden)

Please register by sending an e-mail to ctd@hum.leidenuniv.nl before 1 December. For more information you can contact Inge Ligtvoet.