This chapter examines a many-to-many, collaborative, transnational, diasporic sphere of public discourse called the Nigerian Village Square, which over the years has functioned as an arena for the vigorous exchange of ideas among Nigerians both at home and in the diaspora and as a veritable locus for the initiation of online petition drives to change or influence state policies in the homeland. It is the reinvention, in an electronic form, of the deliberative content of the “village square” in the pre-colonial African social formation where “people from all corners [met] at the Village Square after a hard day's work to sip unadulterated palm-wine, share news, gossip, jokes, music, dance, events and opinions.” In many respects, the pre-colonial African village square that the owners of this website refer to has many parallels with the early European bourgeois public sphere that Habermas historicized. It was a core cultural institution that was crucial to the intergenerational perpetuation of traditions, customs, and mores, which were disrupted by the advent of colonialism. The reincarnated village square in electronic form, however, both replicates and transcends the structures and discursive practices of its predecessor. This article explores and lays bare the inclusive, many-to-many deliberative practices of the Nigerian Village Square.com and highlights instances of the website’s user-led engagement with the Nigerian state.
- Nigeria,
- Diaspora,
- Deliberative Democracy,
- Online Communities,
- Nigerian Village Square
- African Studies,
- Communication Technology and New Media,
- Critical and Cultural Studies,
- International and Area Studies,
- International and Intercultural Communication,
- Journalism Studies,
- Mass Communication,
- Other Communication,
- Social Influence and Political Communication,
- Social Media and
- Speech and Rhetorical Studies
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/farooq_kperogi/10/