This 'Experimental Humanities' forum is geared towards discussing the role of digital storytelling and artivism in enabling the Nigerian #ENDSARS2020 protests which have now become one of the country's most significant revolutionary events. The series of protests held in October 2020 yielded a plurality of iconographic and transmediatic experiences as several mediums of expression like words, images, music, dance etc. were deployed by protesters to express their message(s). Although #ENDSARS2020 events culminated in the killings of unarmed protesters at Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, 2020, these events have now inspired Nigerian millennials and Gen-Zers to use art and the digital space as modes of activism. The four panellists who will spearhead the discussion have been carefully selected because of the relevance of their research interests and professional experiences. Sanjay Kumar is a visiting lecturer at CEU's Department of History who has vested effort in researching and teaching about how literature, art and performance are used in narrativising the experiences of marginalised postcolonial societies. Diekara Oloruntoba-Oju is a doctoral student of urban youth studies and performative resistances at Harvard University. Timilehin Omilana, a former reporter for Guardian.ng, covered stories about the ENDSARS protests, two of which are published by Independent.co.uk. Noah Oladele who also partook in the protests is an award-winning Nigerian poet, an artist, and a budding literary theorist. The panel discussion will be preceded by the screening of an experimental video compilation of different works submitted by Nigerian youths which re-capture the impactful fragments of artivism manifested during #ENDSARS2020.
Meeting point: https://ucalgary.zoom.us/j/97954005245