O C C A S I O N A L P A P E R S

Nigerian Identity Formations in the Usenet Newsgroup soc.culture.nigeria

Ben Moran

2000

C E N T R E O F A F R I C A N S T U D I E S

E d i n b u r g h U n i v e r s i t y

Price: f 6.50 or U S $ 13.00

Nigerian identity formations in the Usenet

newsg rou p soc. culture. nigeria.

BEN MORAN

Abstract

This study examines the expression and formation of identities in one Internet discussion group, soc.cu/ture.nigeria. It draws on the ideas of Benedict Anderson (1991) that new social forms of communication can lead to the transformation and creation of new kinds of identity, as print-capitalism brought about nationalism. These are placed into the Nigerian context with the work of Okwudiba Nnoli (1978), who charts the formation of ethnic identities In the contact engendered by colonial urbanisation. Work on ethnicity by writers such as Crawford Young (1994) is considered, as well as broader theories of postcolonial identity politics. Bakhtin's (1981) ideas of dialogism are used to draw together these approaches to identity constructed in situations of contact, which in this discussion group are entirely textual.

A combination of qualitative research methods are used in the study: an extended period of observation, modelled on ethnographic enquiry, and the use of discourse analytic techniques to investigate in detail selections from the archives of the discussion. An account is given of the rationale behind these strategies, and they are defended on both theoretical and ethical grounds. In the second part of the dissertation, the resultant analyses are presented in the form of commentaries on extracts from the group.

The study concludes that identity formations as the products of dialogue are shaped in many subtle ways by the conditions of communication in which such dialogues take place. The environment of soc.culture.nigeria is one marked by what Bakhtin terms "centrifugal" tendencies; but the embedding of the newsgroup in broader social and communicative networks, Nigerian and transnational, enables some forms of identity to be anchored more stably. The tendency of identity to fragmentation and multiplicity in the postcolonial setting is not total, but countered by identity's situation in concrete dialogues.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................................... 3

...................................................................................................... ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 4

INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 6

PART ONE .........................................................................................................."....................... 13

1 . NIGERIAN IDENTITIES ...................................................................................................... 13

2 . S0C.CULTURE.NIGERIA - MEDIA STRUCTURES AND CHARACTERISTICS ................. 22

3 . COMMUNICATIONS MEDIA AND SOCIAL THEORY ......................................................... 34 4 METHODOLOGICAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES IN USENET RESEARCH ............................ 43

PART TWO .................................................................................................................................. 56

EXTRACT A ..................... ... .............................................................................................. 55

Friendship Lecture ............................................................................................................... 55

................................. CASE STUDY 1 - FRIENDSHIP LECTURE

EXTRACT B ......................................................................................................................... 6!3

1 . E g h Omo Yoruba ........................................................................................................... 69

...................................................................................... 2 . Movement for a Greater Nigerie 71

................................................................................. CASE STUDY 2 - Two PRESS RELEASES 75

EXTRACT C ........................ .... ................................................................................................ 86

'Of 4 19ers and Superheroes" .............................................................................................. 86

CASE STUDY 3 - "OF 4lQERS AND SUPERHEROES. ................................................................... B l

CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................... 102

BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................ 112

BOOKS ............................................................................................................................... 112

ARTICLES .......................................................................................................................... 116

ONLINE RESOURCES ......................................................................................................... 120

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My very warmest thanks to those writers on the Internet who so kindly

gave me permission to use their work and their words for this study

and others, and without whom there is nothing to say: Sola Osofisan,

Maurice 0. Ene, o. kasirim nwuke, and Nowamagbe Omoigui. I am

very grateful to the the Centre for African Studies at the University of

Edinburgh for so much help and support, and making this research

possible. Thanks also to Misty Bastian at Franklin and Marshall

College for her encouragement and discussion; Chris Atton at Napier

University for his enthusiasm and help early on; Gabriel Otu-Nyiam

for his help, and patient explanation; and especially to Siobhdn Lyons

at SOAS.

Responsibility for any errors in this dissertation, and all the opinions

expressed, lies of course with me.

My related work may be found at www.35-lO.freeserve.co.uk, or I can

be contacted via email at bml@3stones.com. Alternatively, I can be

located through the Centre for African Studies:

Centre for African Studies 7 Buccleuch Place Edinburgh EH8 9L W Tel: 01 3 1 650 3878 Fax: 01 31 650 6535

ISSN 1363-0342 Occasional Papers - The University of Edinburgh. Centre of African Studies

INTRODUCTION

This study examines the way identities are expressed and formed in

one lnternet discussion group, the newsgroup soc.culture.nigeria. I

begin from a position well-argued by many writers, including Benedict

Anderson (1991): that upheavals in the social environment

(colonialism, urbanisation, the printing press) have often had

profound effects on identity. What kinds of identity, then, might result

from new social formations in the novel environment of an lnternet

newsgroup? Steven Jones (19957) notes that "new social

formations may require new forms of inquiry". Consequently, this

dissertation takes a,transdisciplinary approach to the material in

question. Theories of identity have been drawn from work on

ethnicity and from postcolonial studies; understandings of

communication and media are informed by recent writings in the

sociology of computer-mediated communication, and by the ideas of

Mikhail Bakhtin (Bakhtin 1981; Morris 1994; Folch-Serra 1990;

Holquist 1990). The methodological approach is based both on the

adaptation of ethnographic participant obsetvation to the computer-

mediated setting, and on the techniques of discourse analysis.

Before explaining the roles played by these elements in the structure

of the study, however, this Introduction will consider why the Internet

is an appropriate subject for African studies at all.

"African studiesn is, of course, already an interdisciplinary tradition

within universities, defined by specialism within geographical area

rather than by disciplinary approach. Consequently, to expand the

field's reach to the global diaspora, and its focus to transnational

computer networks concentrated outside the African continent, may

appear to be a movement outside the remit of the subject. However,

engagement with the issues of Africa's connection to globalization is

crucial. To neglect both the significance of Africans in diaspora, and

Africa's use of global media networks, is to put an arbitrary border

around the continent, and that has implications for international

attitudes and policy towards Africa.

Despite current low telecommunications connectivity domestically,

Africa is not an occasional, passive recipient of media technologies

bestowed from outside to bridge a perceived "information gap"

(Wilson 1997). In the words of Olu Oguibe, a Nigerian artist educated

in Nigeria and London, and currently resident in the USA:

"Cyberdiasporas -- net presences established by individuals and

communities in expatriation - are proving an important route through

which territories on the outside of connectivity can find representation

in cyberspace." (Oguibe 1996b). To represent Nigeria as "on the

outside of connectivity" is not at face value unreasonable, given the

1999 figures of one telephone line per 200 people and one Internet

user per 25000 (Jensen 1999:Z). Yet Oguibe's point is that these

elite four to five thousand individuals within Nigeria, and the

thousands more Nigerians outside, play a significant role in mediating

between on-line and off-line networks of communication.

We should not neglect these important links between

communications networks, as well as those of the networks

themselves. A recurrent theme throughout this dissertation is the

way that separate media interact, so that the Usenet can contribute to

content in newspapers, or information can cross from e-mail into

radio broadcasts.' Communications networks can have social effects

far wider-ranging than the immediate circle of those who use them

directly. "Print and electronic media is seen as merely

complementary to the traditional means of communication in Nigeria.

However, foreign influence on the local media system has permeated

the whole structure of indigenous oral and mass communications,

resulting in an undeniably hybrid communication system." (Eribo

1997:67). Danmole's examination of Yoruba Muslim media use

(1999) provides specific illustration of this permeation, as

technologies such as video and television are brought firmly into

Nigerian practices of social, economic and cultural exchange. The

lnternet is not at present so established as the radio and television

networks which have been developing in Nigeria for 67 years

(Danmole 1999:2); but even now, it is playing its part in a media

system which is as fundamentally "hybrid" in Nigeria as it is

elsewhere.

To ignore the participation and involvement of Africans in the Internet

is not only bad for African studies, but bad for our understanding of

lnternet communication. The myth of being "global", which has been

' April 11th 1999 saw.Nigeria's General Abubakar (then the transitional Head of State)

engaged in a BBC Woad Service interview on the radio, answering questions sent by

email and telephone. The interview was then transcribed for the World-Wide Web.

fundamental to the development of cyberspace, is becoming

increasingly true. Only 57% of the Internet's users now speak English

as a first language, and English is expected to lose its majority status

as early as next year.2 Consequently, studies focused on American-

Anglophone Internet culture and society reveal only a partial view.

This very recent mushrooming of diversity across all social strata on

. the Internet - more women, more users outside the USA, younger

and older people - has profound implications for the form that

communication on the Net takes, and consequently for the role of the

Net in our wider social life. As I investigate here, the simple

proliferation of social diversity in the CMC arena does not inevitably

lead to the realisation of the liberal dream of "communicative utopia"

(Wilson 1997). Through language differences, undifferentiated

homogeneous 'cyberspace' acquires a 'landscape', with gradients,

obstacles and open spaces. I am here using "language differences"

in a broad sense, informed by Bakhtin's idea of "heteroglossia":

... language Is stratified not only into linguistic dialects in the strict sense of the

word (according to formal linguistic(na*ers, especially phonetic). but also ... into

languages that em sodo-ideologicel: languages of social groups, "professionel"

and 'generic' languages, languages of generations and so forth.

(Bakhtin 1981:272)

The study of communication in a radically heteroglossic setting, such

as that found in soc.culture.nigeria, is consequently both fascinating,

The marketing consultancy Global Reach gives August 1999 figures of 129 million

Internel users using English, against 95.6 million In all other languages. Projected

and a necessary counterpoint to monolingual studies of lnternet

communication that treat language as a transparent common

denominator. For a study of identities expressed in text, the centrality

of heteroglossia cannot be ignored.

It is not my intention to approach the study of the lnternet laden with

prior normative judgements, viewing it as necessarily a "good" or a

"bad" thing for Nigerians. An uncritical 'techno-evangelist' attitude - that technology equates with modernity, modernity equates with

development, and that therefore Internet connectivity must be

developed in Africa at all costs - has held great sway in much writing

about African lnternet issues. Although this view is in part a spin-off

from the wave of boosterism about the potential of "cyberspacen that

accompanied the Internet's expansion in the West, it very often

carries another narrative in its subtexts. This inscribes 'progress',

and its technological fruits, as belonging to 'the developed world':

Africa is by implication 'backward', and alienated from the

technologies in question, even when they can be 'imported' from

outside. The Nigerian webmaster Chuck Odili refutes this case

strongly, as he has this to say ".. . about Nigerians: we are pad of the

Internet and the Internet is a part of us. " (Odili 1 999).

figures for the year 2000 are 160 million and 167 million respefAvely. (Global Reach

1999)

Dissertation Layout

In the attempt to analyse the expression of identity by Nigerians in

soc.culture.nigeria, this dissertation is divided into two broad parts.

The first sets out the necessary background information and

theoretical basis of the study, whilst the second seeks to apply these

more abstract concepts to specific examples of texts drawn from the

newsgroup. Each part is subdivided into chapters, which will be

examined below.

Part I begins with an overview of ideas surrounding postcolonial

identities in general, and "Nigerian identitiesn in particular. Social

contact, and dialogue in Bakhtin's sense, are seen as prime forces in

the creation and employment of identity. The second chapter

provides a background to the specific features of soc.culture.nigeria

as an environment for communication. It examines both the salient

technical features . of Usenet newsgroups in general for

communication, contrasting them with other media forms; it also

outlines some of the historical and other relevant social aspects of

soc.cultum.nigeria. In Chapter 3, we examine two thinkers as the

basis for discussion on the broad social implications of changing

media forms: Walter Ong and Benedict Anderson. The specific

characteristics of the newsgroup described earlier will be put into the

context of these ideas, such as the loss of 'closure' engendered by

the shift from print media to computer-mediated textual

communication. The final chapter in this Part discusses

methodological issues in the present study. It justifies the selection of

the research methods adopted on both theoretical and ethical

grounds, with the emphasis on retaining for investigation the dialogic

and heteroglossic aspects of the group's discourse.

Part II consists of three readings of extracts taken from the

newsgroup, in the light of the ideas above. These three chapters are

designed to be read alongside the original texts themselves. Identity

is mobilised differently in each of the three extracts: ethnicity as

culture, ethnicity as nationalism, and Nigerian national identity are

foregrounded respectively. The discussions aim to direct the reader's

attention to the communicative features described in Part I, which

shape these uses of identity. In addition, by drawing on relevant

contextual material from elsewhere on the newsgroup, the Internet or

other sources, the commentaries should illuminate some of the less

apparent features of the texts, and the use of multiple forms of

identity within each of them.

Finally, the conclusion links up these disparate elements. It suggests

that identity, especially in a textual environment like

soc.culture.nigeria, can be seen in terms of dialogue. Taking up

Bakhtin's idea that the concrete expression of dialogue in language is

continually shaped by opposing centripetal and centrifugal forces, it

seeks to explain shifts in identity formation as shifts in the balance of

these forces on the conditions of dialogue. Nnoli's account of the rise

of contemporary Nigerian ethnicity through the social and economic

impact of celonial urbanisation is examined in these terms. This

analysis is then applied to the environment of soc.culture.nigeria, and

it is argued that its powerfully centrifugal tendencies are moderated

by the role of intertextuality. The actual expressions of identity in

soc.culture.nigeria are the results of local dialogues, with broader

formations given some measure of solidity by their embedding in

wider networks of social meaning.

1. NIGERIAN IDENTITIES

The story of ethnic difference in Africa threatens to oveMRlelm the longer debate

about postcolonial identity politics across the continent ... Yet ethnic identities

ere merely a small fraction of the many identities mobilized in the postcdonial

politics of everyday life.

(Werbner I-: 1 )

The postcolony is not made up of one coherent 'public space' ... it is Csther a

plurality of 'spheres' and arenas ... Faced with this ... the postcolonial 'subject'

mobilizes not just a single 'identity', but several fluid identities ... (Achille Mbembe, cited by Werbner) (ibid.)

These comments on the subject of "Postcolonial Identities in African

(Ranger and Werbner 1996) take on special significance in the light

of the present topic: the identities of Nigerians in lnternet discussions.

Three related issues arise when the views above are applied to this

particular case. Firstly, "postcolonial identity politics" here take place

not just "across the continent" of Africa, but far beyond its

geographical confines. Secondly, the relationship between ethnicity

and other forms of identity has perhaps a special salience for Nigeria.

Finally, the question of multiple, fluid identities, a currently

fashionable motif in post-colonial theory and lnternet social studies

alike, will be considered in a wider historical perspective.

Though the term "postcolonialn is highly problematic (e.g.

Frankenberg and Mani in Smadar and Lavie 1996:275-6), its

emphasis on the fundamentally transnational dynamics of social and

cultural interchange is useful to bring to this study. Hannerz reminds

us of the impact of the colonial past even in bringing about "Nigerian

itself. In Nigeria, 'the idea of the national ... was a conception

imported from the outside, making Nigeria itself in significant part an

organizational artifact of the integrative processes in the world."

(Hannerz 1996:5). For Hannerz, such forces demonstrate how

Nigerian culture is "shaped by an intense, continuous, comprehensive

interplay between the indigenous and the imported" (ibid.). Whilst

such an experience is hardly unique to Nigeria, it was this "global

interconnectedness" that Hannerz perceived in the small central

Nigerian town of Kafanchan that led him to pursue further an interest

in the process of globalization generally.

However, an account of Nigeria and globalization that looks only at

foreign "imports" to the domestic culture, portraying only one direction

of flow into a passive 'indigenousn reality seems lacking. A

contention of this dissertation is that Nigerians have themselves

shaped their country almost as often from locations "abroad" as from

those within it. Since the founding of Awolowo's Egbe Omo

Oduduwa, later to become the Action Group, by a group of students

in London in 1945 (Nnoli 1978:104), key political meetings and events

have occurred outside Nigeria's borders. Nor should we necessarily

limit the idea of "abroadness" or "diaspora" to Nigerians outside

Nigeria, given the ambiguous status of Nigeria as a nation. The

founding of the Ibo Union, in Lagos in 1936 (ibid.), could equally be

portrayed as the actions of an lgbo diaspora in Yorubaland.

An important characteristic of all these migrations is that all sorts of

links with "homen are often strongly maintained. Nnoli cites

Imoagene's description of the initial period of rural-urban migration

within Nigeria.

While in h e city [the migrant) keeps up all the channels of communication with

the home people through regular and frequent visits, letters, messages and gifts,

thereby keeping himself within the rural network of m ' a l relations.

(Nnoli 197853)

Such a description does not appear radically different from the way in

which many contemporary transnational migrants retain strong

contacts with Nigeria, economic as well as cultural and personal.

Nigerians in diaspora writing on soc.culture.nigeria describe regular

visits home, apply for jobs in Nigeria, telephone regularly and seek to

marry there.

Not only are the social networks and values of those at "home"

important to those "abroad"; influences operate in both directions.

Nnoli's portrayal of the colonial city as "cradle of contemporary

ethnicity" in Nigeria (1980:35) includes mention of the salience to that

process of "stories of the urban dwellers who returned occasionally to

their villages to visitn, and "letters written by the urban dweller to his

family, relatives or friends back homen (1980:39). A picture emerges

of a process of identity formation in Nigeria: migrants are confronted

with new situations of contact, which have consequences for identity.

Extensive social networks provide channels by which these changes

travel beyond their original "cradlen in the city, back to the migrants'

home communities.

The particular influence of soc.culture.nigeria's transnational migrants

may be amplified by their elite status within Nigeria. The very act of

travel to Europe or North America places the traveller into the social

category called "been-ton in Pidgin. Discussions on soc.culture.nigeria

between members of the diaspora often acknowledge their socially

and economically privileged status. Furthermore, just as those who

can travel are predominantly elite, those who are elite travel as a

matter of course. It is unremarkable that the political scientist Chudi

Uwazurike, quoting a speech by Alex Ekwueme to the World lgbo

Congress, sees no need to highlight the fact that the Congress took

place in Los Angeles (Uwazurike in Beckett and Young 1997:335).

London, Washington, and other world cities are important locales in

which Nigerian politics is transacted on a continuous basis, and

reported in Nigeria; it makes little sense to see Nigerians resident in

these places as outside the social sphere of "Nigeria proper".

Therefore, this study does nof proceed from the assumption that all

Nigerians in diaspora are resident in particularly turbulent

"[bJorderzones ... sites of creative cultural creolization, places where

crisscrossed identities are forged out of the debris of corroded,

formerly (would-be) homogeneous identitiesn (Lavie and Swedenburg

1996:15). Following the argument of Mbembe above, we may expect

to find such disjunctures within the Nigerian "postcolony" itself in any

case; and following both Hannerz' argument of "global

interconnectednessn, and the parallels with migrations within Nigerian

borders, there is little reason to see the diaspora as necessarily any

more cut off from events 'at home" than many other Nigerians.

Werbner's point that African studies has often emphasised ethnic

identity at the expense of examining the broader range of identities

and alliances in operation is also particularly salient for Nigeria.

Appadurai (1986:357) claims that anthropology in particular has

tended to associate places of study with theoretical "gatekeeping

conceptsn, ideational motifs around which the study of particular

locales has tended to be organised. Hannerz further notes that the

specific gatekeeping concept which has governed the study of

Nigerian society is that of ethnic diversity, "her three hundred tribes"

(Hannerz 1996:119). However, what WeFbner calls the "story of

ethnic difference" with respect to Nigeria cannot reasonably be

regarded as one told solely by outsiders, given the centrality of the

vocabulary of ethnic identity to Nigerian political and social life. Young

describes an approach in Leys' early work on Kenyan politics (Young

1994:72) where the analysis of "tribalism" is portrayed as morally

suspect, superfluous ideological baggage brought in entirely by neo-

colonialists. This attitude does not seem feasible given the

inescapability of ethnicity in the Nigerian context. In some instances,

ethnic identity takes the form of an emergent nationalism that effaces

the Nigerian nation altogether (e.g. the Yoruba Nation group

examined in Case Study 2).

Nevertheless, to restrict our attention solely to "ethnicity" is to deny

ourselves the perspective gained from taking a wider a viewpoint,

leaving us unable to explain the either the expression of non-ethnic

identities (such as the Nigerian nationalist stance taken in Case

Study 3); or even the use of ethnicity itself within a broader context.

The first case study provides an interesting example, where ethnicity

forms the bulk of the topic of conversation, yet in my reading at least,

other forms of identity are also at work in shaping.the dialogue and

are equally important.

Situational accounts of ethnicity (e.g. Salamone 1982), with the

emphasis on social context and interaction explaining the selection

and employment of various ethnic identities, have long been widely

accepted within the theory of ethnicity. I see little reason to limit such

situational accounts of identity to ethnicity per se. More successful

accounts of 'ethnicity' have long had to push the boundaries of this

narrow remit in order to describe the broad spectrum of social

positionalities needed to explain 'ethnic' identities.

One such account of communal identities in the Nigerian context is to

be found in a 1967 volume with the nowdated title *From Tribe to

Nation in Africa". The examination of society in the northern Nigerian

city of Kano by John Paden, however, is nuanced and sophisticated,

but it broadens "ethnicity" in Kano enormously by including under it

"at least eight categories: religion, place of birth, family origins, family

or clan, land, language, urban location, and race" (Paden in Cohen

and Middleton 1970: 268). Paden notes that in Kano's earlier history,

the dominant categories used in defining a named "ethnicity" were "a

sense of common origins (iama'a) andlor a place of origin (asali)".

Subsequent social upheavals in the twentieth century under

colonialism led to a greater emphasis being placed on "urban

(Kanawa), li~guistic (Hausa), and religious (Muslims) categories."

(ibid.)- Paden concludes by remarking tbat "interesting questions

remain as to how these categories overlap or adapt themselves to

pacticular circumstances."

Approaching the question of the identities of those writing on

soc.culture.nigeria today in a similar fashion to Paden in 1967, we are

confronted with at least the same diversity. Categories such as

religion, place of birth, place of current-residence, race, and language

can all be very important. Otber social collectivities are also

identified: political party ("You are an APP man"), race ('leadem of

the black race", "African brothers"), and geographical region within

Nigeria ("northerners", "Arewa", "South-Westerners", "the South-

South"). Class can play a role, in guises su@ as the Hausa category

"Talakawa", "commoners". Personal identities also have valency, and

may emphasise professional achievement ("Professor", "economist",

"writer",) or 'traditional' status ("Omo Oba", "Prince"), for instance. In

some of the various discussion groups seen within

so~.culture.nigena,~ collective identities 'local' to the Internet may

See Chapter 2 for a discussion of the group'p strudure.'sub-groups', etc.

even be mobilised: appeals are made to group solidarity as "Nettersn

or members of "this Village Square". '

This dissertation does not claim to reveal a system of "real" identities

at work behind discursive camouflage, like "modernityn as a mask

over "traditional" loyalties, or Nnoli's portrayal of ethnicity as a "mask

over the class strugglen (1980:277). Instead, it views identity in a

mode similar to that which Crawford Young terms "constructivist",

rather than through the earlier primordialist or instrumentalist lenses

(Young 1994:80-81). "The constructivist sees ethnicity as the product

of human agency, a creative social act through which such

commonalities as speech code, cultural practice, ecological

adaptation, and political organisation become woven into a

consciousness of shared identity" (Young 1994:79). This study

differs than Young's approach in several ways, however, which we

will recap here. It expands its swpe from "ethnicity" to identity in

general. It is concerned specifically with identity formation in the

computer-mediated setting of Usenet; a situation in which the whole

spectrum of social contact is mediated entirely through language.

Consequently, other factors such as "cultural practice, ecological

adaptation, and political organisationn can be addressed only as text

' Gender, too, has Important implications for identity, but will reluctantly be neglected in

this dissertation. Gender Identities interact in very complex ways with other categories.

as Matory (1994) has shown in his study of gender in Oyo-Yoruba religion; these

interactions require a great deal of space to do them justii. Furthermore, as a non-

Nigerian I am particularly hesitant to broach this a m of great controuersy. There is

enough to say, for the time being, about less controversial subjects.

and context. Above all, identity is here conceived in terms of dialogue.

2. SOC.CULTURE.NIGERIA - MEDIA STRUCTURES AND

CHARACTERlsnCs

This chapter seeks to put across some relevant technical description

of how the newsgroup soc.cultum.nigeria is structured, how it relates

to the rest of the Internet and how it compares with traditional media.

(The theoretical implications of these structures will be examined in

the following chapter). This structural description is included not for

its own sake, but because the focus of the study is the impact of the

new medium on social communication, and consequently on identity

formation and expression. To do this with clarity and substance

requires a precise understanding of the media involved, particularly

important when dealing with the muddied intertextual waters of

soc.cultum.nigerie. I take issue with Mitra's argument (in Jones

1997:77) that the "large number of terms ... used to describe various

aspects of [the Internet]" (e.g. Usenet, World-Wide Web, email)

"fundamentally ... all refer to various manifestations of the same

phenomenon - the ability to communicate with others using the

computer". Newspapers, telegrams and novels are all manifestations

of the ability to communicate using print, but play profoundly different

social roles and exert different influences over the content of any

communication. The distinction is an important one even where a

"telegramw is intertextually inserted into the novel, or a novel

serialised in a newspaper.

Firstly, though, the newsgroup's immediate appearance will be

sketched out. Soc.culture.nigeria was established in 1995 as a forum

for topical and cultural debate. It receives approximately thirty to

ninety postings daily, and has accumulated an archive of over 96,000

messages.' Its subject matter is enormously broad, ranging from

news stories direct from wire sources such as Reuters, to poetry, to

vitriolic inter-personal arguments. It is publically accessible, to

Nigerians and non-Nigerians alike. Anyone that can read it can also

post to it (Rheingold 1994:117), and consequently conversations

often develop between its users. However, it is an 'asynchronous'

medium: messages are not exchanged immediately, but over the

course of several hours. Each message thus tends to be many lines,

or even pages long. (In synchronous communication, conversational

turns are far shorter and more frequent.)

Structurally, soc.culture.nigeria is located on Usenet, which is in turn

part of the wider Internet. December (1996) defines the lnternet as

that global network which uses the TCPIIP protocol (Transfer-Control

Protocol-Internet Protocol) for data transmission, whilst noting that

many 'gateways' connect between this network and others (such as

AOL or Compuserve). He further notes that:

There are TCPllP networks (internets, with a small I) that are not connected to

the larger global Internet. These internet networks, therefore, although technically

using the TCPllP protocol suite, are not part of the global Internet based on this

definition.

(December 1996)

The archive is stored at Deja.com on the World-Wide Web.

This use of TCPIIP is worth mentioning here, because networks using

this protocol have certain characteristics. They are inherently

"robust", or "highly redundantn, as TCPIIP enables data to be split into

small packets, which are then routed independently around the

network via the best available route, until they are reassembled at

their destination. For this reason, the network is not dependent on

any particular node, with two consequences. It is resistant to the

destruction of any section: indeed, its military creators intended it to

survive a nuclear attack (Winston 1998:324-6). For the same

structural reasons, as the telecommunications pioneer John Gilmore

declared: "The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes

around it" (cited in Rheingold 1994:7). Blocking data at one node will

not impede its transmission by other routes, a fact that has salience

not just for political "censorshipn, but for editorial control in a wide

sense.

All Internet communication, though by definition using the TCPIIP

protocol, is not of the same format. Transfers are further structured

by a range of mediating protocols. The World-Wide Web (WWV)

uses H7TP (Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol), larger files are distributed

via FTP (File Transfer Protocol) servers, and so on. The protocol

governing the Usenet, where soc.cultum.nigeria is located, is NNTP

(Network News Transfer Protocol). Each of these protocols governs

the relations between clients and servers in different ways, and has

consequences for the way in which information is distributed and

used - even though they are all aspects of the Internet, simply

transmitting data between computers via TCPIIP. December (1996)

lists a variety of schemes in which information can be distributed:

Point-to-point, e.g. an email from one user to another

Point-to-multipoint, e.g. an email from one user to many

Point-to-server broadcast or narrowcast. A user sends a message

to a server, which makes it available either to all its clients or a

defined selection.

Server broadcastlnarrowcast. Information is stored on a server,

which makes it available to all or some clients - e.g. a website.

Server-to-server.

A letter, telephone or fax are examples of point-to-point distribution.

Radio and television use server broadcast. Classified adverts in a

newspaper are examples of point-to-server broadcast.

Newsgroups on Usenet are distributed by a combination of point-to-

server and server-to-server broadcast, which distinguishes them from

simple point-to-multipoint distributions like email lists (Listservs).

Messages originate with single users, who pass them to a local

server. This server passes its messages on to adjacent servers in

the network, and receives theirs. Messages are retained for a period,

before being discarded. Because the network does not have a central

organising point, not all messages will arrive instantly across the

network in the same order: for this reason, Jacob Palme (1995)

describes the process of propagation around Usenet as being like

"pouring water on a flat surface; the water spreads out in all

directions". He provides the following illustration.

I , ( server) \

I --. t /' i m * - - - - - - - - - -

P+-' w a

Source: Jamb Palme 1995, "How the Usenet News Protocols Work"

A client wishing to read news messages does not receive them all

directly, as in email (the volume is far too great), but "browses" the

current messages available on their local server and downloads only

those of interest. To aid this process, messages are sorted into

"newsgroups" which are themselves sorted into hierarchies of related

topics: this is where the name "soc[ial].culture.nigerian originates.

Each local server can impose some sort of editorial control at this

point: not all servers carry all the newsgroups. However, the network

is an inherently open and public one, as many newsservers are

accessible for free to anyone on the Internet. A group barred from

one server can almost certainly be accessed via another.

These features mean Usenet has a very peculiar set of

characteristics as a medium. It can be "browsed" like the World-Wide

Web, rather than consisting of private, point-to-point information like

ernail or the telephone system. However, unlike other server-led

networks, its content comes solely from its participants, and anyone

who can read it can in principle write to it. Users are able to pose

questions, and respond to them: it is consequently quite different from

a one-way medium, such as television, and frequently takes on a

conversational, interactional ~haracter.~ Whilst some newsgroups

are "moderated" so messages must pass through a human or

automatic moderator's control, most are not (among them

soc.culture.nigeria).

Having set out the characteristics of Usenet as a distinct medium, the

issue is somewhat blurred by the existence of "gateways" between

this and other networks. "Mai12newsn gateways can be created

between email lists (Listsenrs) and the Usenet, enabling email users

to write directly to newsgroups (Dean 1999). In addition, companies

such as RemarQ.com and Deja.com provide gateways between

Usenet and the World-Wide Web. Deja.com is especially significant,

as it maintains a fully searchable archive of all the messages that

pass through it.' These date back several years, and thus

This said, estimates show that perhaps only 10% of Usenet readers actually make

postings themselves, and the remaining 90% am silent "lurkers', consequently invisible.

(Recount 1996)

' These can be removed at the originator's request, but Deja.Com discourage this

practice and it does not appear to be prevalent. Recalling messages, once sent to

Usenet, is extremely difficult precisely because of its decentralised. 'spreading watef

character.

encompass all of soc.cultum.nigeria's history since its inception in

1995.

Being aware of gateways such as these draws notice to the fact that

a great amount of the material posted to soc.culture.nigeria actually

originates elsewhere. What at first appears to be a conversation

between two or more participants on soc.cultum.nigeria may actually

actually taking place "elsewhere", and then being forwarded to the

newsgroup. (The route taken by a message to reach the newsgroup

may often be revealed only by careful attention to message headers,

automatically generated by each server a message passes through.)

Thus, soc.cultum.nigeria may take on the appearance of a

community discussion at times, but a someone who writes directly to

the newsgroup may not be "heardn if the other participants are

themselves following the debate elsewhere. At other times, similar

discussions do take place between writers posting to

soc.culture.nigeria itself, but are invisible to those reading only on

other networks.

The most significant of these other locales are email groups called

Listservs, especially the two called Naijanet and Igbo-net. These two

Listservs forward messages automatically to the newsgroup via

mail2news gateways unless the writer specifies otherwise, and the

volume from them is consequently considerable. Bastian (1996)

places these into useful historical context.

The first Nigerian Internet discussion group arose from private circles

of Nigerian students in the US sharing relevant news stories via

email, taking them from international news agencies such as Reuters

and AFP. Bastian (1996:4-5) relates how a discussion on the

newsgroup soc.culture.african led to the formalisation of this

arrangement, and the creation of the Listserv "Naijanet". This grew

rapidly, largely by word-of-mouth and personal contacts. Bastian

records the network's size in 1996 as 600-700 subscribers (1996:5);

and an apparent slowing of growth at that time was attributed to

Naijanet's many splits. Beginning with Oduduwa-net for Yoruba

speakers in 1992, Bastian charts the appearance of a network for

"the Association of Nigerian Activists", ANA-net in 1993 ';

Naijawomen-net in 1994, and also Igbo-net in 1994.

Soc.culture.nigeria was itself created by Naijanet users in 1995.

Because many of the email lists are closed groups, with no particular

point of entry other than word-of-mouth, it is impossible to be certain

how many there are at any given time. They also have a tendency to

rise and decline sporadically, especially with the rise of yet more

WWW gateway sites such as eGroups.com and 0neList.com that

permit the easy, free creation of Listservs by any WWW user. A

search of eGroups.com alone reveals 59 groups under the search

term "Nigeria", 13 under "Naija", 3 under "Igala", 3 "Yoruba" and 2

"lgbo". Not all of these groups are functioning, but many have a great

Hall (199952) refers to the ANA as the 'Association of Nigerians Abroad'.

29

deal of activity; details on some are shown in the table below.

(Naijanet and Igbo-net, the two lists most evident on

soc.culture.nigeria, do not operate via eGroups.)

eGroup name

Naiia Women (naiia-women)

Naiia News and Discussion (naiiacentral)

-1 Bendel leaaue (bendel leaaue)

Niaerian Professionals Abroad (naiia-~ro)

icoba class of '84 (icobaclassof84)

F. .G. . #)

EverythinaNiaeria fevervthinaniaerial

AlrForceMilitawSchool 30s

0) ubnlondon (nailahockev)

G r o u ~ For Iabo Proaress (~roaressives)

Ekwe-Nche (ekwe--nche)

JaalaNet (laala]

/GALA-UK NET (iaala-uk)

EGBE OM0 YORUBA

Members

153

25

89

17

108

9

37

42

42

37

8

11

3

18

3

1

Messages

1394

369

302

279

259

363

30 1

278

248

127

2

3

3

190

2

1

O It is very interesting that there is no evidence of anything like 'Hausa-net", 'Arewa-net",

or any similar forum for the discussion of Northern Nigerian issues, unlike the sluation

for Southern Nigeria. People from that region are certainly active online (see Case

Study 2), but for some reason have not apparently formed a discussion gmup of their

Own.

Soc.culture.nigeria thus does not constitute a single community of

lnternet using Nigerians, but a kind of public "information crossroads"

(rather than "highway"), reflecting debate in many different groups

and forums. Besides these discussion groups, it also regularly

receives material from email-based news services (such as Nigeria

Media Monitor), and Web-based Nigerian services. These Web-

based services, such as Nigeria.com, MotherlandNigeria.wm, and

Odili.net, are furthermore becoming centres of discussion in their own

right with the addition of ever more sophisticated Java bulletin boards

to allow reader responses. Soc.culture.nigeria frequently contains

links to such pages, and makes reference to documents stored

elsewhere on the lnternet (as we will see later Case Study 3).

Soc.culture.nigeria is only part of a broader international Nigerian

communicative network. It is one of the most publically accessible

parts, but the total network is highly complex, closed in many places,

and spread across different media. The backbone of this network as

far as the lnternet is concernced perhaps lies in the sort of

interactions that initiated the growth of Naijanet: private emails

between users. These certainly continue alongside the forums, all

with varying degrees of "publicn or "privaten-ness. They are, however,

inaccessible to the researcher or indeed to other parts of the network.

Furthermore, the most active participants across the Nigerian

communication networks do not limit themselves to CMC media, but

make use of the full range of communication possibilities available to

them. Discussions on the group refer to and help promote the

activities of the same participants across all media: television,

published books, post, newspapers, magazines, telephones, even

theatre. Information travels in both directions across all of these

media and the Internet. A writer might publish a book, and then

promote it, sell it and solicit reviews from other participants online (as

in the case of Cyril Orji's self-published novel Lamentations). Groups

of Nigerians on-line frequently organise petitions, formal letters or

other forms of collective political expression for distribution through

both CMC and conventional media channels (e.g. the press releases

in Case Study 2 below).

Soc.cultum.nigena, then, is fundamentally embedded within wider

communication networks. Such embedding distinguishes this sort of

computer-mediated social interaction from the recreational, escapist

use of CMC in networks such as role-playing MUDs ("Multi-User

Dungeons"), which have hitherto preoccupied many writers on CMC

sociality (e.g. Rheingold 1994; Bromberg in Shields 1996:143). Lyon

(Loader 1997:28) accuses the 'communities' found in CMC settings

such as MUDs of self-referentiality; he cites Reid's comment that

such social environments "are substitutes for and yet distinct from the

networks of meaning in the wider community", even as they provide a

"common culture whose specialised meanings allow the sharing of

imagined realities" (Reid in Jones 1995:183). It is difficult to see any

similar process occurring within the context of soc.cultum.nigeria.

There is no sense of the newsgroup in any real way "substitutingn for

Nigeria, despite Mitra's approach to studying soc.cultum.india as

"Looking for India on the Internet" (in Jones 1997:61). Whilst a

Nigerian WWW site may make the claim, for instance, that 'Naija.com

is Nigeria on the Internet*, the intrinsic focus of such sites on people,

places and events external to the Internet makes their relationship to

"the networks of meaning in the wider communityn very different to

those of role-playing fantasy games or environments found

elsewhere. As for "the sharing of imagined realities', we will consider

Anderson's arguments in relation to print media and nationalism

below.

3. COMMUNICATIONS MEDIA AND SOCIAL THEORY

Many thinkers have considered the profound impact of changing

technologies of communication on social formations, but in this

section we will focus on two. Walter Ong (1982) provides a bold

analysis of the characteristics of orality, literacy and print; this forms a

useful basis on which to speculate about the nature of the "written

speech" (Paccagnella 1997) which constitutes much of the substance

of soc.cultum.nigeria. Benedict Anderson's "Imagined Communities"

(1991) then locates the features of print in the broad social context of

the development of nationalism; surely a thesis with important

parallels for this study on Nigerian identities in the time of yet another

upheaval in communications.

Walter Ong's work on the effects of the process of "technologizing the

word" (1982) pays close attention to the shifts in "consciousness" that

result from the introduction of writing to entirely oral societies, and of

print to entirely "chirographic" societies. Ong touches briefly on

technologies of 'secondary orality" (Ong 1982:135) such as telephony

and television, and on the use of computers in the production of print,

but these ideas can be profitably developed further in the context of

1999 Internet communication.

Ong describes a very wide spectrum of changes in the "noetic

economy" (Ong 1982:130) as a result of the technologies in question.

Transformations wrought by the introduction of writing centre around

the shift from the word as sound to the word in visual space, which

need not concern us here. However, the development of print

transforms and furthers the process of writing in several ways,

leading to closum and objectification of the texts in question.

Typographic control typically impresses ... by its tidiness and inevitability: the

lines perfectly regular, all justified on the right side, everything coming out even

visually, and without the aid of the guidelines ... This is an insistent world of cold,

non-human facts. 'That's the way it is' ... (Ong 1982:122)

The authority and finality that print confers on a text is somehow

divorced from its human author to a degree greater than in an

imperfect, hand-written manuscript, and far more so than the direct,

humanly spoken word. Furthermore, "[plrint involves many persons

besides the author in the production of a work - publishers, literary

agents, publishers' readers, copy editors and others." (ibid.). All of

these aspects combined to "isolate thought on a written surface,

detached from any interlocutor . . . somehow self-contained,

complete." (Ong 1982:132). The filling of 'white space" evident in

print, even in daily newspapers, leaves no space for the reader's

additions in the margin as was common with scholarly manuscripts;

its production of thousands of identical copies even removes the

purpose of such marginalia, since copies are not shared in the same

manner.

Ong suggests that this "sequential processing and spatializing of the

word ... is further intensified by the computer, which maximizes the

commitment of the word to space" (Ong 1982:136), and perhaps for

1982 when the most common destination for computer-processed

text was the printed page, this holds. Yet with the advent of the

Internet, where words are written, transmitted and read without ever

leaving the flickering computer screen for the fixity of "hard copy", it is

my view that both the "commitment of the word to space" and the

closure of print are largely lost. Words may appear as regular and

justified as print, but they have become eminently manipulable: the

user controls their own web-browser, newsreader or email program

and can transform the font or size of text instantly. The authority and

perfection of print can disappear: emails and newsgroup postings are

hurriedly produced, by individual authors (not teams), and are full of

the mis-spellings, abbreviations and inaccuracies that conventional

print denies. Resistance to erasure and insertion, epitomised by the

printed word, is lost. An extremely common technique of argument

on newsgroups like soc.culture.nigeria, or the email Listservs, is to

take an interlocutor's original message, and in reply to intersperse it

with one's own comments. Originally devised as a means of tying

together conversational "threads", to avoid misunderstandings, such

practices transform the nature of debate by making one's opponent's

text manipulable in a way not seen with any other medium. Selective

quoting is necessary, and this power of selection alters the

relationship between opposing voices fundamentally.1° Lyon has also

lo A satiricel piece, 'How to Win Arguments on Usenet', sends this practise up very accurately:

'Selective editing is a good way to avoid engaging with your ownent's better arguments Simply

delete that intelligent, pointed question which ends paragraph three and reply instead to the

weaker arguments beneath. Should your opponent post something like "l'm sorry but you're

remarked on this feature of the shift away from print: Whereas in

print culture the author - literally - had authority, and the reader a

capacity to criticise, these fixed points are blurred in electronic

communication." (Lyon in Loader 1997:29).

Benedict Anderson's influential characterisation of nations as

"imagined communitiesu (1991) is extremely relevant for this study.

The centre of his argument is not merely the claim, previously made

by others, that nations as collectivities of many people who will never

meet are necessarily "imagined" or "invented" (Anderson 1991 :5).

Anderson seeks to show how such imaginings are possible, and why

they exert such powerful effects.

What, in a positive sense, made the new communities imaginable was ... interaction between a system of production and productive relations (capitalism),

a technology of communications (print) and the fatality of human linguistic

diversity.

(Anderson 1991 :4243).

The fusion of this social and communicative system is referred to as

"print-capitalism", and Anderson contrasts it with earlier political

systems. Transcontinental religious communities, such as

Christendom and Islam, were imagined on the basis of sacred texts in

(often unspoken) script languages like "Church Latin, Qur'anic Arabic

or Examination Chinesen (Anderson 1991:14). The consequent

talking crap", snip everything but the first two words then graciously accept his apology.' (Jones

1999)

spread of print, both as books and newspapers, had the most

profound implications for systems of belief and authority, as well as

directly for communication.

Anderson cites the diversity of spoken languages in pre-print Europe

as being far too immense for capitalism to feasibly exploit each

vernacular micro-market. Both Afigbo and Nnoli make similar

observations for the Nigerian case: "many Nigerians encounter a

different language just twenty miles outside their communal

homeland." (Nnoli 1978:128). Afigbo's account of the Christian

missionaries' difficulties in creating a printed lgbo Bible under these

conditions supports Anderson's case very strongly (Afigbo 1982:360-

4). But, Anderson notes, "these varied idiolects were capable of

being assembled, within definite limits, into print-languages far fewer

in number." (Anderson 1991:43). Such print-languages had three

principle implications for imagined nations, firstly in creating "unified

fields of exchange and communication below Latin and above the

spoken vernaculars". They fused marginally intelligible speeches into

definite language-fields, comprehensible as "French" or "English".

Nascent 'communities' of readers and writers were thus created, far

larger than the immediate speech communities of any local

vernacular. (Ong 1982:106-7 describes the same process.)

Secondly, "print-capitalism gave a new fixity to languagen (Anderson

1991:44), with printed texts capable of being reproduced very

accurately and indefinitely. Without scribes re-writing each

successive manuscript copy, unconsciously altering and updating text

and language therein, the pace of change of language slowed

dramatically. Anderson quotes Febvre and Martin: 'By the 17th

century languages in Europe had generally assumed their modem

forms" (ibid.). Finally, the crystallising of print-languages had political

implications for the relative power and status of various dialects.

Dialects closer to the print-language dominated those that were less

successful in attaining printed status, as Anderson puts it (1991:45).11

These influences of print (in association with capitalism) on the

development of national consciousness were profound; it is

interesting then to question what effects the rise of computer-

mediated communication might have. As noted above when

considering Ong, while computer-mediated texts such as are found

on Usenet retain and enhance all the reproducibility of print, they lack

the closure and fixity Anderson describes above. The low cost of

distribution means texts can be produced for an audience as small as

one, and consequently restrictions on the use of idiolect and "correctn

print-language are loose. Soc.culture.nigeria contains a great

diversity of languages, such as English, Yoruba, and Igbo, yet the

group's potential for heteroglossia is not limited to these more-or-less

settled print-languages. Nigerian Pidgin is widely employed in certain

contexts, as a language common to most Nigerians (at least the

Southerners who predominate on the Net) yet very hard for non-

Nigerians to comprehend. The use of printed Pidgin in various forms

l1 One might wonder whether the reverse dynamic also operated, and the dialects that

had most influence on print-languages were previously the most poliically dominant.

is not new (Saro-Wiwa's 1985 "novel in Rotten Englishn, Sozaboy, is

a related literary phenomenon), yet many of the texts found in

soc.cuEture.nigeria blend it in with Standard English, other Nigerian

languages, and even Internet-specific linguistic features in ways that

simply would not be found in other media. The computer-mediated

format of Usenet makes feasible the use of languages intelligible only

to a few specific addressees, in a manner akin to that of speech, yet

with the reproducibility and global reach of print or other electronic

media. Indeed, Paccagnella (1997) notes that CMC can be defined

as 'written speech", though he attributes this to a dubious

"ephemerality".'* He is closer to the mark when he notes that very

often such communication "is not intended for people uninvolved

directly in interaction, and it loses part of its sense and meaning when

re-read afterward by neutral observers". "Written speech" is situated

and personal, dependent on context in a way reminiscent of oral

utterances (Ong 1982:101) - although this can be problematic for

successful understanding.

The loss in large part of what Ong terms "closure", and Anderson

"fixityn, affects the sort of authority that computer-mediated

communication can exert compared to print. Incoherence, instability

and a lack of permanence are widely noted characteristics of online

social environments (Herring 1999). The asynchronous,

l2 'Ephememli seems the last property to attribute to a medium where every word is

archived indefinitely by third patties. We will consider these archives further in Chapter

4.

decentralised Usenet is particularly noted for these traits; Rheingold

characterises it as a "working anarchy" (1994:109). In addition, the

lack of closure renders 'facts' highly unreliable. The newsgroup has

seen several incidents of rumours being widely accepted, that later

turn out to be simply untrue. For instance in February 1999 the entire

print run of The News magazine was seized by the transitional

military regime because it contained reports of Nigerian casuality

figures in the Sierra Leonean conflict. An argument over the rights

and wrongs of this ran for several days on the newsgroup, but was

sharply curtailed: because the magazine had actually contained no

such article. Amidst conflicting reports, no-one could be sure whether

the police had thought it contained this article, or whether they were

acting over another story entirely. Consequently, writers in the

discussion group quickly learn to adopt sceptical attitudes,

questioning their sources in a manner seen far less frequently with

printed media. Even the existence and identity of one's interlocutor

cannot be taken for granted, with several apparent instances of

"fictitious" characters writing from free email services such as

Hotmail.com.

Soc.culture.nigeria, as part of Usenet, displays the paradoxical

tendencies inherent in the medium to both connectivity and

incoherence. At one level, the TCP/IP protocol creates a common

"language-field" of communicative potential, the largest the world has

ever seen: all points on the globe of connectivity are rendered equally

instantly accessible. Simultaneously, it makes possible once again

the use of specialised, constantly evolving idiolects. Any sort of

social identity, from the universal to the idiosyncratic can be evoked

or constructed: common humanity, the African race, the ltsekiri

people, members of the "Palm Wine Drinkard's club"; one writer signs

himself "of my own village onlyn, another is neither Muslim nor

Christian but "Christlem". Yet without support from other forms of

communication, indeed the rest of the social world, there is nothing to

sustain these identities, and they might just as quickly vanish. Some

identities, of course, are better supported than others. The

connections between identity, discourse and other forms of social

power are well expressed in the aphorism that "a language is a

dialect with an army".

4. METHODOLOGICAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES IN USENET

RESEARCH

This section of the dissertation provides an overview of some of the

particular issues affecting social research on Usenet. The peculiar

characteristics of this computer-mediated social setting necessarily

influence the choice of research methods used, as do the theoretical

positions behind a given research goal. Research in computer-

mediated communication also raises new ethical issues, compared to

those experienced in "conventional" anthropological or sociological

enquiry. Paccagnella (1997) provides a useful grounding in such

research from an ethnographic perspective, although as we will see,

ethnography is by no means the only possible disciplinary approach

to CMC in general, or Usenet in particular. In this chapter, the

decision between quantitative or qualitative methods will be

considered, based on consideration of approaches used by other

researchers in the study of Usenet. There follows an explanation of

the methods used here: an extended period of "silent" observation on

the newsgroup, followed by the use of discourse analytic techniques

to examine closely a small selection of the data (with the consent of

the authors). These decisions will be defended on both theoretical

and ethical grounds.

Decisions about social research projects immediately pose the

question of quantitative or qualitative techniques: whether to gather

quantitative numerical data, in order to apply statistical analysis, or to

use an interpretive approach to the raw material. Researchers

studying social activity on Usenet, and other similar Internet settings,

have made use of a range of such approaches. Although the raw

material is the same in all cases - vast amounts of machine-readable

text - fast computer systems are able to store and manipulate this

data in any way the researcher can devise. Stone notes that "in a

universe in which everything (and everybody) is produced and

mediated by text, the floppy disk is the ultimate field recorder.

Nothing escapes its panoptic gaze." (in Star 1995243). The linguist

Paolillo adopts a different disciplinary perspective to the same

phenomenon, noting that the "complete textual logs" found in CMC

enable "the researcher to utilize quantitative analytical methods that

would be unthinkable if the research were conducted on face-to-face

interaction." (Paolillo 1999).

Quantitative techniques have been applied to a wide range of

theoretical topics in Usenet research, such as biologists examining

the idea of memes and "cultural evolution", treating Usenet as a

"model cultural systemn (Pocklington and Best 1997:l); psychologists

examining correlations between language style and gender (Savicki,

Lingenfelter and Kelley 1996); and a communication studies analysis

of "reproaching incidents" (Smith, McLaughlin and Osborne 1997). At

the same time, qualitative approaches to newsgroups have been

used by Mitra for soc.cultum.india (in Jones 1997:79) and Baym for

rec.arts.television.soaps (in Jones 1995:138-163), amongst others.

Both of these latter writers are concerned with the nature of

"community", and whether it can exist in CMC settings.

Operationalising such a concept, as is necessary to render it

amenable to statistical investigation, would not only be difficult: these

writers are questioning the very nature of community itself. To define

it as a fixed mathematical expression, with which the data could be

tested, would require their conclusions to be reached before the

actual investigation. We cannot measure how much of something

there is before we know what it is we are looking for.

Similarly, the topic of identity expressed through language is not one

easily amenable to quantitative investigation. A quantitative

approach, that might be based around searches for particular word

usage ("Nigerian", "Naija" or "Igbo", perhaps) would be possible, yet

such an approach would be uninformative: without context, both

social and textual, the meanings and resonances of these terms are

lost. Furthermore, this study places emphasis on the study of

discourse in Usenet as implacably heteroglossic and polyphonic. A

word such as "Nigeriann or "Africann has different meanings in the

usage of different writers. This suggests that an aggregative

approach, attempting to extract a single set of meanings from this

diversity, would be doomed to failure.

This is not to say all quantitative techniques are insensitive to such

issues. One promising technique is the social network analysis

approach, adopted by writers such as J. Clyde Mitchell in the 1970s

to investigate African ethnicity in face-to-face social settings (8.g.

Boissevain and Mitchell 1973: 15-36; Mitchell in ASA 1974: 1-35).

This yields quantitative data which is relational: that is, it concerns the

interactions between a network of participants, rather than treating

the group as an aggregation of isolated individuals. Furthermore, the

mathematics of network analysis is in many ways well suited to

lnternet communication, which is itself a network. Thus a geographer

such as Paul Adams is able to apply similar techniques to investigate

concepts of 'virtual place" on the lnternet (Adams 1998); Paolillo

applies network analysis to investigate sociolinguistic features of

lnternet discussion groups (Paolillo 1999).

However, crucial problems remain with these approaches for the

present study - accessibility. operationalisation, and the theoretical

question of dialogue. The problem of gaining access to data about

the social networks in question is not one which merely requires effort

to solve: the fundamental interpenetration between the Usenet

network and other communications media, such as Listservs and

private e-mail, would make data collection for network analysis

inherently problematic. There would be no way of knowing if

complete data had been obtained about all relevant interactions

between the participants. Concerns have also been raised

periodically in discussions that some participants may be using more

than one identity, creating fictitious characters to support them in

arguments, and so on. "Ghostn participants such as these would

affect the validity of any conclusions.

Paolillo's network approach to sociolinguistics still requires key

theoretical concepts (in his case, "vernacularization") to be

operationalized before correlations can be sought, again stripping

actual usages of linguistic features of their context and thus their

meaning, from the speakers' viewpoint. The result is that the

explanatory power of his study is sharply limited: he can state which

of a set of "social groupsn in his CMC environment use certain

linguistic features most frequently, but not why, or when, they are

used. The impermanence of these social groups in the CMC

environment delimits the value of such results further. They may be

useful for Paolillo's concerns with behavioural features of language,

but do not address the concerns of this study: the connections of

language to identity and social meaning.

Mitchell's (1974) use of network analysis was not, of course, in a

CMC setting, but did address some of the same questions of ethnic

identity that concern us here. Attempting to tackle the question of

perceived social distances between ethnic identity groups in Zambia,

Mitchell's methodology was based on a survey of large numbers of

individuals who answered a questionnaire enquiring

whether the respondent would willingly admit a member from an arbitrarily

specified ethnic Qroup into close kinship by marriage, into a village, to the tribal

area, work with, share a meal with, or allow as a visitor to his home areas.

(Boissevain and Mitchell 19743)

Mitchell then applied fairly complex statistical analysis to this data, to

produce a set of results which he claimed gave "a general

representation" of the 'structure of the perceptions of social distance":

surely a structure that would reveal much about identity formations in

any setting, were it valid. However, this approach does not admit the

possibility of identities as dialogically formed. The dialogues taking

place here are between the researcher and each of his 239

respondents, artificially created interactions that have no bearing on

everyday social realities in the setting under study. The importance

to the expression of identity of the addressee (the silent but essential

partner in any act of dialogue) is something that emerges quite clearly

from the present dissertation.13

The most appropriate techniques for the current project, then, are

qualitative. I have adopted a combination of long-term observation,

and close readings of particular texts based on discourse analysis,

which will be discussed below.

The aim of participant observation, lengthy periods of immersion in

the target social setting, is to attain what Lofland describes as

"intimate familiarity" (Lofland 1976:8) with the situation, some level of

interpretive understanding. Similarly with on-line ethnography:

Paccagnella cites Webefs concept of Verstehen, and describes his

period of 18 months spent as a member of an Italian computer

conference as an attempt to achieve "an intimate understanding of

the culture and the symbolic system of the conference" (Paccagnella

1997). For the present topic, observation of soc.culture.nigeria was

carried on for a period of nine months, from December 1998 to

IS Consider the way the absence of a direct Yoruba audience affects the positioning of

the Yoruba in Case Study 1, or the absence of any ethnic identiy in the literally inter-

national encounter seen in Case Study 3.

August 1999. This extended period of observation was made

possible and given continuity by the selection of this one 'field site'

itself, soc.culture.nigeria. Having a single defined area under study in

CMC provides necessary limits to observation, enabling the

researcher to gain a more thorough insight into what is happening in

and around that 'place'. These insights, such as the way in which the

newsgroup and its e-mail "subgroups" interrelate, were still occurring

to me after several months - randomly scouring the overwhelming

amount of Nigeria-related information on the entire lnternet for the

same period would probably not have led to the same understanding.

In addition, a key property of soc.culture.nigeria - its fundamental

intertextuality, noted in Chapter 2 and throughout this dissertation - gave the newsgroup a particular advantage as a field site. It acts as

an easily accessibile, but still well-connected 'central node' in

Nigerian lnternet space (an 'information crossroads'). Concentrating

my attention on this one locale thus did not lead to neglect of other

lnternet activity.

This period of observation was not, however, particpant observation,

attempting to engage in discussions on the newsgroup: I made only

one posting to the newsgroup itself during this duration, in May. This

may appear uncomfortably like the ethically controversial practice of

covert observation, discussed extensively in Bulmer (1982), and

these important ethical concerns must be addressed. Firstly, Usenet

is a public network. Paccagnella cites the ProjectH research group

(an international team of scholars engaged in quantitative research

on electronic discussions):

We view public discourse on CMC as just that: public. Analysis of such content.

where individuals', Institutions' and lists' identities are shielded, is not subject to

'Human Subject' restraints. Such study is more akin to the study of tombstone

epitaphs, gramti, or letters to the editor. Personal? -yes. Private? - no.

(Rafaeli quoted in Paccagnella 1997).

This perception of material on the network as public is shared by at

least one of the writers I approached, who replied: "Feel free to use

[the materials]. After all, they are 'published'!". However, while such

an attitude to 'public' and 'private' communication may reflect legal

distinctions, the use of such "personal" discourse in the very different

context of social research still seems ethically problematic. For this

reason I have always asked for permission from the authors of

material I wish to analyse. The exceptions to this are where I have

made only a passing reference to a message, used anonymously

(where it is not an object of study in its own right); and the two press

releases in Case Study 2. 1 feel that these latter texts, collaboratively

written, and for wide distribution, are not "personal", but genuinely in

the public domain.

Secondly, one of the main ethical problems with conventional covert

research is that during the researcher's time in the setting, he is

"concealing the fact that he is a researcher and pretending to play

some other role." (Bulmer 1982:4). This is not the case on Usenet.

There is no such pretence, and simply reading messages without

posting is in fact the norm: probably over 90% of Usenet readers are

"lurking" in this way (Recount 1996).

Furthermore, although some newsgroups may operate as "virtual

communities" with clear insider-outsider demarcations, where a

"covert researcher" would represent a real intrusion (e.g. Baym's

example of rec.arts.television.soaps in Jones 1995: 138), this is not

exactly the case for soc.culture.nigeria, owing to the complex

intertextual structure described in Chapter 2. There are reflected

fragments of other virtual communities, like the Listservs; there are

occasional conversational exchanges; but "the group" itself does not

constitute one social entity. The single posting I made, announcing a

forthcoming conference paper in May 1999, received no replies.

However, contacting writers directly by e-mail always elicited

(positive!) responses. While this is not practical for every message

read during the nine months of observation, I feel it to be an ethical

requirement where lengthy extracts are to be reprinted, as in this

dissertation.

Bulmer's main pragmatic argument against conventional covert

observation is "simply that covert methods are often not necessary

and the same objectives can be achieved by overt or 'open'

observational studiesn (Bulmer 1982:120). 1 would argue that in this

case they cannot. Given an understanding of identity as socially

negotiated and situationally contingent, it is relevant that introducing

myself to the social situation as a European researcher changes the

situation radically. We see in the three case studies that different

identities are mobilised with different interlocutors: Igbo-net, the

Nigerian public, an American on Usenet. Rather than a contrived

setting like Mitchell's 1974 research mentioned earlier, in which

respondents discuss identity in a setting with an outsider-researcher,

the aim of this study is to examine uses of identity as they occur

between different participants.

At this point the "textual log" characteristic of CMC noted at the

beginning of the chapter provides another useful feature for the

researcher. It is possible to seek permission from writers after the

event, with the original utterance already recorded unaffected by the

existence of a researcher. The best of both worlds is thus obtainable

- both "the study of social interaction in [genuinely] natural settings"

(Lofland 1976), and the informed consent of those subjects whose

words are to be re-presented.

This same availability of textual logs facilitates not only large-scale

quantitative analysis, as noted by Paolillo above, but obviates the

need for transcription for discourse analysis, the other qualitative

approach employed for this study. This method is not a separate

approach, unrelated to the period of observation: it is the

understanding and familiarity with the research setting gained by the

months of observation that (hopefully) allows a measure of insight

into the dynamics of discourse within the group. Nine months of

complete field data (let alone the four years of archive material

available for soc.cultum.nigeria) cannot possibly be represented in

full, but this background can inform the analysis of any selected

extracts.

Discourse analysis is not itself a single, clearly defined

methodological technique (Schiffrin terms it "one of the most vast, but

also one of the least defined, areas in linguistics") (1994:5), but rather

describes a body of theoretical and analytical approaches to text that

crosses many disciplinary boundaries. Nevertheless, an approach

concerned with 'language in social action' seems ideal when the

material available for analysis is precisely that. The work of Dell

Hymes and J.J. Gumperz (Gumperz and Hymes 1972; Gumperz

1982), in the theories of ethnography of communication and

interactional sociolinguistics, have both proved helpful in developing a

sensitivity to language in use. An emphasis on cultural relativity in

communication practices, and in Gumperz on the special nature of

cross-cultural communication, are particularly useful perspectives to

bring to readings of soc.cultum.nigeria.

As this study is not focused primarily on language itself, however,

their methods are not implemented systematically. I refer to them

merely to help describe the technique employed in Part II. The aims

of the analyses to be presented there are closer in spirit to that

described by Bakhtin below:

Every utterance participates in the 'unitary language' (in its centripetal forces end

tendencies) and at the same time partakes of social and historical heteroglossia

(the centrifugal, stratifying forces).

Such is the fleeting language of a day, d an epoch, a social group, a genre, a

school and so forth. It is possible to give a wnaete and detailed analysis of any

utterance, once having exposed it as a contradiction-ridden, tension-filled unity of

two embattled tendencies in the life of language.

(Bakhtii 1981:272)

Though Bakhtin's tone is (typically) rather confrontational, and it

sounds somewhat hostile to set about exposing all language as

"contradiction-riddenn and "tension-filled", this passage nevertheless

provides my theoretical starting point for the investigation of identities

expressed and formed in the new communicative conditions of

soc. culture. nigeria.

On a final point, the three extracts from the newsgroup used here

have not been selected to be 'representative', and were not sampled

from from the newsgroup in any formal manner. The fragmentary

nature of the newsgroup does not easily permit the drawing of

'overall' conclusions; to claim representativeness or completeness

would be to force a false unity onto many disparate interactions, quite

at odds with the aims of the study. In addition, investigating any great

number of these very different texts would not permit the analysis of

anything more than their surface features. Rather than attempting

this, a more fruitful approach is to draw out some of the ways in which

multiple identities are employed and interact in "concrete and

detailed" analyses of a few specific "utterances". The selections have

been chosen as complementary to one another, and hopefully

interesting and informative in their own right (even without the

commentaries) to the reader concerned with the topic of Nigerian

identities.

PART TWO

The full text of each example precedes each discussion. Line

numbers are given in square brackets following quotations.

Extract A

Friendship Lecture

From: "Nowamagbe Omoigui M.D." <xxxx@xxxxx.xxxxxx.xx.xxx>

Date: Thu, 6 May 1999 15:20:56 EST

Subject: Re: Friendship Lecture

Ogbuef i Meke,

Thanks for your compliments and the very good question.

"Ndi-Edo" (as you call us) have never "claimed" closer cultural ties

to "Ndi-Oyo" than "Ndi-Igbo'. It is carly Yoruba writcrs (who had

the first opportunity to go to the White man's schools) who changed

the relationship of Ndi-Edo to Ndi-Yoruba. "Ndi-Edo" have always (in

oral traditions) recognized our complex relationships with

neighboring nations, including many parts of modern "Igboland" as

deep as Oguta. Even our migration (a long time ago) from the area of

modcrn day Egypt and Sudan makcs us closcr to somc othcr "migrants"

in modern Nigeria than the Yoruba can ever claim. But there are four

valid Yoruba

conncctions to Edo:

Cross-over of the royal houses of Benin and Ife including the

exchange of royal art forms and techniques.

Influences on Benin Traditional religion (eg Yoruba deities like

Orunmila) amongst Edo communities bordering Yoruba land (c.g. Uscn).

Edo viceroys appointed (in the 16th and 17th centuries) to rule over

places like Lagos (called "Eko" in Edo language - meaning "prisoner of war

camp"

Small migrant Yoruba communities deep within Edo and Ika land.

[some still speak an ancient dialect of yoruba to this day]

Migrant Edo communities left behind (after wars and trading)

in places like Akure, Owo, Ado-Ekiti etc ... [You might want to know, for example, that "Ado-Ekiti" comes from "Edo". 'Ado-Akure'

refers to those Binis of mixed ancestry who returned to Benin to

settle. Those who did not return have practically been assimilated

into

modern Yoruba nation, preferring to hide under that label in order to

benefit from being a "majority tribe"]. My maternal

grandmother (a pure Edo woman), for example, was buried in Akure

circa 1936, where she was a leader of the Edo Marketwomen group for

many years.

According to Edo oral tradition, the royal cross-over "Yoruba"

~0nncction to "Edo" originally came from the escape of a Bcnin Prince

from infighting within the royal family in Benin. This Prince

wandered

with his party into the 'Ife' area where he came across some friendly

aborigines. He then decided to settle there calling it "Ilefe"

meaning

"I have escaped and survived" - which Ndi-Edo think is what was corrupted to Ile-Ife. This Prince (Ekaladerhan) told his hosts

"Izoduwaw meaning "I have chosen the path of prosperity for you"

which Ndi-Edo think was corrupted to "Oduduwa". Whcn Edo land

wanted a restoration of the old monarchy they sent for him; but being

too old he sent his son (born of a yoruba woman) whose name was

"Oranmiyann. Oranmiyan (re)established the modern dynasty.

His son was initially dumb. However, while playing a game of "Ayo"

he hit the jackpot and shouted (excitedly) "Owomika" in yoruba - meaning "My hand struck it". This was how the name "Eweka"

was derived. Oranmiyan returned to Ife after getting frustrated with

Edo politics labelling what we now call Benin-City, "Ile-Ibinu"

mcaning

"House Of Quarrel". However, his son (Eweka 1)

became Oba and is the index King of the modern dynasty.

This version never made to the books published by early Yoruba

intellectuals because (in Ndi-Edo's view) it would have meant

supremacy

of the Edo Traditional Institution in the old Western region. [Like

many Igbo communities, Edos were very resistant to the whiteman's

culture and resisted western education initially] As it turns out the

entire basis for the formation of "Egbe Omo Oduduwa" was the

prcsumption of originality and supcriority of Ifc in thc schcmc of

things in Yoruba land - even though the Oyo empire was the dominant yoruba force for much of the 18th and 19th centuries.

'Egbe Omo Oduduwa' became "Action Group". However, the Edos

always knew they had a different version and eventually, irritation

with Yoruba irredentism blossomed into the first calls for the

separation

of thc Midwcst from thc Wcst. Whcn Osadcbay was madc our first

Premier, he alluded to the "Benin ancestral-link" in announcing

Benin-City as the capital of the new region.

Ndi-Edo's relationships to Ndi-Igbo are expressed in many songs among

many communities strctching from Bcnin-City all thc way to thc Nigcr

banks (on both sides). In addition, many secret rituals in Edoland

use a language different from traditional common Edo language.

Depending on the ritual, these languages have many words from

surrounding nations, including Ika, Ukwani and Nri-Igbo. Similarly,

certain rituals in 'Igboland' contain obvious Edo words. I smile when

somc of my "Igbo" fricnds makc statcmcnts containing words that I can

57

identify. Who gave what to who? We will never know for sure. But

some of us are definitely related - even if we do not realize it - and we fight from time to time in modern Nigeria! This is one

reason why traditional contacts can be very important in keeping the

pcacc amongst our pcoplcs.

Until the British came and started establishing rigid borders,

settlement patterns were very flexible and mixed. Intermarriage was

common and names became mixed up in ways we cannot trace today. If

one drifted away from one's community for any reason (famine, crime,

polygamous

fighting, escape from slave raiders etc .... ) all one had to do was make peace with village elders who would then grant land for

scttlcmcnt and bcgin thc proccss of association and assimilation.

Even slaves were frequently assimilated into the owning families.

Thus, in addition to specific royal houses founded by conquering

princes or war generals, the commoners in many villages have mixed

ancestry.

In fact the age grade system I described for Edoland also applies to

certain

"Igbo-speaking" communities of today.

Since traditional african religion was the in-thing, our rituals were

vcry

similar - and up to this day, if you talk to those who are in the know, such rituals betray just how close we all used to be - before thc whitcman camc with his agcnda.

CASE STUDY 1 - Friendship Lecture

The first text from soc.culture.nigeria to be examined is directly

concerned with questions of dialogue between ethnic identities: it is a

conversation between ethnic groups, about ethnic groups. The

extract is only part of a lengthy discussion, between an Edo writer (Dr

Omoigui) and members of the Igbo-net discussion group. As it

originated on Igbo-net, it was written primarily for this audience and

not specifically for the open, public setting of soc.culture.nigeria.

However, the automatic links between Igbo-net and the newsgroup

mean such material forms a great part of the content on the Usenet

newsgroup. This chapter first briefly outlines the social 'occasion' or

setting from which the extract originates, before looking at the place

of identity within it. Close attention is paid to the ways the extract

sets out an understanding of Nigerian ethnicity and nation. Though

ethnicity is of central importance, it is further argued that other forms

of personal identity cross-cut it, playing a mediating role. Finally, we

consider the construction of ethnicity in terms of dialogue, and the

role of this particular text in relation to this process.

This "Friendship Lecture" (31 is presented as an annual occasion on

Igbo-net, with a 'talk' given to the discussion group by a non-lgbo

guest speaker. As was mentioned earlier, the structure of Igbo-net (a

email Listserv with a defined membership) is very different to the

open, public structure of soc.culture.nigeria (within Usenet). Though

soc.culture.nigeria could not meaningfully be called a 'community",

Igbo-net falls much closer to this category, especially for the most

active core of its members." This should not allow us to ignore its

intrinsic divisions, such as irreconcilable differences of opinion, the

distinctions between the most active members and minimally

participating "lurkers". However, given that all participants have

stated aims in common when subscribing, and all those involved in

the "Friendship Lecture" have implicitly accepted the event's

definition, there is considerably more closure in this instance than can

be seen in other online exchanges (e.g. Case Study 3). On the other

hand, the ambiguous position of online discourse, neither speech nor

print, is readily apparent here: the central text is a called a "lecture"

rather than an essay. This may seem incorrect at first, but since the

"lecturen takes a question-and-answer format, with "audience" input, it

is perhaps the more accurate analogy. There is also less formality

than might be found with a printed essay, especially as the discussion

continues. (The whole exchange was too lengthy to reprint here; the

extract given is a reply by the main speaker to a question about his

first lecture.)

As the setting in this instance is understood by the participants as a

lecturer and audience, rather than a group of writers of equal status

(for instance) Dr Omoigui is temporarily accorded a special position

as "guest lecturer". His contributions are privileged to a degree

above the others as speaking for "Ndi-Edon 161, his statements given

-- -

" Rheingold (1994) and Jones (1995) both provide extensive discussion on what exactly

may constiiute a 'virtual community'.

authority on matters which fall outside the scope of the year-round

lgbo members' usual discourse. Nevertheless, the group's ultimate

focus remains on lgbo cultural identity and politics. The lecture

constitutes only one event in a span of the discussion defined on the

group as "lgbo heritage month". Though Dr Omoigui is accorded a

great deal of respect, appropriate to his status as a guest, it is notable

that the responses from other members engage above all with the

sections of the lecture that have a direct interest for lgbo identity. His

allusion to one Edo group's former practice of teeth-filing, for

instance, was related by one writer to the travels of the early lgbo

writer Olaudah Equiano. This in turn provoked an animated debate

over Equiano's exact origins within Igboland, a perennially popular

topic amongst the group.

The central concerns of the extract itself, however, are Nigerian

ethnic identities in general. We will now consider the way in which

these identities are constructed in the text. The extract starts by

setting out relations of distance between three apparently bounded,

but interacting, ethnic groups.

"Ndi-Edo" (as you call us) have never 'claimed" closer cultural ties

to "Ndi-Oyo" than "Ndi-lgbo". 16-71

This situation, three distinct groups, is immediately qualified by the

fact that two of the groups are in direct dialogue, to the degree that

this Edo writer uses the lgbo "Ndi-" prefix.15 This is done consciously

''The noun Ndi means "people", in the plural. (Green and Igwe. 1963:231)

and is marked, however, so boundaries are maintained ("as you call

US") [6]. The third group, the Yoruba here referred to as "Ndi-Oyo",

are absent from the conversation: this text was originally located on

Igbo-net, not Naijanet or soc.culture.nigeria . This perhaps allows a

greater degree of latitude when speaking of the Yoruba, as an absent

third party, than of the Igbo. Immediately we hear that:

... It is early Yoruba writers (who had the first opportunity to go to the White man's

schools) who changed the relationsh~p of Ndi-Edo to Ndi-Yonrba.

[6-81

This mention of a fourth group, "the White man", stands apart from

the other groups (as marked by its lack of the lgbo "ndi-" prefix, for

instance). This shows the contours of another layer of identity, below

the EdollgboNoruba division: one in which those groups are

effectively united in contradistinction to the group variously described

as "the White man" [8,87], the "British" [92] (or in the original lecture

not reprinted here, as "Caucasians"). So far, the nature of this over-

arching grouping is not clear - Nigerian, Southern Nigerian, or

African, for example? - but this will be considered later on.

It must be emphasised that even so qualified, this depiction of the text

as simply positing three ethnic identities, 'nested' within a larger

African identity, is but a caricature. Firstly, the careful ethnographic

account offered here does not accept "Edo", "lgbo" and "Yoruba" as

naturalised, homogenous groups, but is aware both of differences

within them and interpenetration between them. Indeed, these are

the theme of the discussion in hand.

Secondly, attention not to the content of the communication, but to its

form and direction suggests other forms of collective identity. Igbo-

net as a specific community is one (the identity 'Netters', or 'those in

the village square' is often invoked in discussion). Another relies on

the importance of academic English discourse in uniting this social

group, largely composed of academics, students, and graduates.

This makes the discussion itself possible: it provides both a shared

frame of reference and language to tackle its concerns, and indeed

provides the model for the communication event (a lecture, by a

guest speaker). Moreover, the importance of academic discourse as

a means and stimulus to communication cross-cuts the other

boundaries previously set up, even to some extent the over-arching

distinction that sets apart "the white man".

The privileged status of English academic discourse on Igbo-net, on

many occasions, perhaps derives both from the high value placed on

education and achievement within "lgbo culture" in a broad sense,

and specifically from the circumstances of those individuals who write

on Igbo-net. These people are likely to be living outside Nigeria,

which means study is a likely occupation. The ubiquity of the Internet

in American and European universities also means that students and

academics are more likely than most professions to be using an on-

line forum such as this. The consequence of academia's discursive

dominance, however, is a paradox which causes tension within the

text. Whilst it was the whiteman's agenda [97], indeed specifically

"the White man's schools" (81 that led to the rigid separations

between Nigerian groups (821 in this narrative, the debates and

lectures here are carried out in English. Indeed, the lecturer cites two

early British ethnographers as historical sources (in the original

lecture, not this extract).16

The irresolvable dilemma of colonial language use is well known to

students of postcolonial issues, and has been thoroughly debated by

the first generation of African writers in English (e.g. Achebe 1975). It

is not my contention that it undermines the sophisticated argument

presented here, but that this reliance on a common set of values and

language with a different basis demonstrates that identities other than

those of ethnic collectivities are subtly deployed even when the topic

discussed is ethnicity itself. Likewise, personal remarks between

participants express other common identities (however lightly). One

respondent to the lecture added the comment: "While we are at it,

welcome to the twins club. I had my twins or should I say my wife

had our twin boys in 1990 ...". (At a conventional conference these

comments might be spoken asides not entered in the formal, written

record; in the CMC setting they are recorded in the same manner as

all other utterances. This is not to say, however, that such

'marginalia' are not telling: rather, readers must sort and prioritise

such material themselves).

l6 Bradbury's 1957 The Benin Kingdom, and Thomas' 1910 Anthropological Report on

the Edo-speaking peoples of Nigeria.

Returning to the extract's foreground themes, it is useful to consider

the way it constructs relationships between the various ethnic groups.

(This will permit comparisons with similar constructions in the other

case studies.) Some tension can be discerned between an emphasis

on the separateness of the groups, and their common ground within a

larger structure, more implied than stated outright. The Edo, Igbo,

and Yoruba are described, in common Nigerian terms, as "nations"

[11] and "peoples" [81]. However, the concept of nationhood

employed here is very different from either of those which will be

seen in the next case study. Rather than emphasising unique

cultures linked to bounded territories, which encompass single

communities of "peoples", the writer breaks all these categories

down. Even traditional Edo secret rituals contain "many words from

surrounding nations" [734], and vice versa. Territories are

questioned, with the writer's use of quotation marks around

"lgboland" [11,75] emphasising the importance of "Edo" people even

"deep" [12,23] within this region. Equally, though Omoigui's

grandmother was "a pure Edo woman" [32], she lived and even died

in Akure, in a "Yoruba" area. Finally, he uses the plural when

describing "Edo communities" [19,25,70], "Yoruba communities" [23],

and so on. Collective groups are distinguished at the village level

(mirrored in the political analysis of his original lecture), rather than as

integral "peoples". The Yoruba, for example, are not portrayed as a

politically cohesive collectivity, and attention is drawn to historical

rivalry between Oyo and lfe as political centres, in a way which

accounts in part for certain modern political formations [59-681.

Although the divisions between ethnic groups are questioned, the

nature of any superordinate identity is less clear in the extract,

however. A larger "us" is certainly employed: "some of us are

definitely related" [78]; "peace amongst our peoples" [81]; "just how

close we all used to be" [96], etc. "Nigeria" is mentioned only once:

"we fight from time to time in modern Nigeria!" [79]. It also recurs in a

comment by Dr Omoigui to a later reply: "I have always wondered

why 'Ethnography' is not taught in the Nigerian Educational System.

Our people will be surprised to see how close they are to one

another."

Mentioning such a collectivity ("our people") in this way invokes a

Nigerian nationalism based on an appeal to traditional common

grounds, which were destroyed by British imperialist borders and

education. Such a view is an unusual take on the ethnicity-

nationalism debates: it is quite different from Chief Awolowo's famous

view of Nigeria as a "mere geographical expression" (cited by

Afolayan in Beckett and Young 1997:48) a British construction that

artificially unites unrelated "tribes". Given such a narrative, any

Nigerian nation has to be based on an appeal to 'modernity' over

'traditional' ethnic values; a total inversion of the view put forward

here.

However, very light emphasis is placed on such a "Nigerian" identity,

and it is seldom made explicit in the text. Dr Omoigui makes no

suggestion that the pattern of social interactions and mutual cultural

influences he describes formed anything like a political unit

coterminous with modern Nigeria. On the one hand, the region in

question could be smaller - there is no mention of any group from

northern Nigeria at all, and no sense that they might be integrated

into this cultural geography. On the other, the closing paragraph

describes a commonality of "traditional african religion" 1941, setting

up a binary distinction with "the whiteman" which could be an appeal

to an African identity far larger than simply Nigerian.

In conclusion, this piece strongly articulates a sense of ethnic

identities formed, literally, through ongoing cultural dialogues. The

various groups are formed from and name each other, both in their

myths and through them. In addition, it is notable that Dr Omoigui's

articulation of this dialogic process is also itself an act of the same, an

Edo-lgbo dialogue. This particular utterance, however, occurred in

specific social conditions which implicate other forms of identity and

language - the personal, professional and collective identities noted

above. The importance of language to identity can be seen

throughout the text, where words from one language form names or

important cultural symbols for another group, [39,42-3, 48-52, 73-77].

Such a portrayal of Nigerian intercultural dialogue, in which Edo

words can name Yoruba towns, and lgbo words enter Edo rituals, is

not unique to this text alone." Neither does the 'actual' sequence of

events - "who gave what to who" [77] - fundamentally affect the

" An interesting parallel occurs in Hymes' passing remark: "The Anang (Nigeria)

received their name from neighbouring Ibo, the term meaning 'ability to speak wittily yet

meaningfully upon any occasion." (Gumperz and Hymes 1972: 42).

Although the divisions between ethnic groups are questioned, the

nature of any superordinate identity is less clear in the extract,

however. A larger "us" is certainly employed: "some of us are

definitely related" [78]; "peace amongst our peoples" 1811; "just how

close we all used to be" [96], etc. "Nigeria" is mentioned only once:

"we fight from time to time in modern Nigeria!" [79]. It also recurs in a

comment by Dr Omoigui to a later reply: "I have always wondered

why 'Ethnography' is not taught in the Nigerian Educational System.

Our people will be surprised to see how close they are to one

another."

Mentioning such a collectivity ("our people") in this way invokes a

Nigerian nationalism based on an appeal to traditional common

grounds, which were destroyed by British imperialist borders and

education. Such a view is an unusual take on the ethnicity-

nationalism debates: it is quite different from Chief Awolowo's famous

view of Nigeria as a "mere geographical expressionn (cited by

Afolayan in Beckett and Young 1997:48) a British construction that

artificially unites unrelated "tribes". Given such a narrative, any

Nigerian nation has to be based on an appeal to 'modernity' over

'traditional' ethnic values; a total inversion of the view put forward

here.

However, very light emphasis is placed on such a "Nigerian" identity,

and it is seldom made explicit in the text. Dr Omoigui makes no

suggestion that the pattern of social interactions and mutual cultural

influences he describes formed anything like a political unit

coterminous with modern Nigeria. On the one hand, the region in

question could be smaller - there is no mention of any group from

northern Nigeria at all, and no sense that they might be integrated

into this cultural geography. On the other, the closing paragraph

describes a commonality of "traditional african religion" [94], setting

up a binary distinction with "the whiteman" which could be an appeal

to an African identity far larger than simply Nigerian.

In conclusion, this piece strongly articulates a sense of ethnic

identities formed, literally, through ongoing cultural dialogues. The

various groups are formed from and name each other, both in their

myths and through them. In addition, it is notable that Dr Omoigui's

articulation of this dialogic process is also itself an act of the same, an

Edo-lgbo dialogue. This particular utterance, however, occurred in

specific social conditions which implicate other forms of identity and

language - the personal, professional and collective identities noted

above. The importance of language to identity can be seen

throughout the text, where words from one language form names or

important cultural symbols for another group, [39,42-3, 48-52, 73-77].

Such a portrayal of Nigerian intercultural dialogue, in which Edo

words can name Yoruba towns, and lgbo words enter Edo rituals, is

not unique to this text alone." Neither does the 'actual' sequence of

events - "who gave what to who" [77] - fundamentally affect the

" An interesting parallel occurs in Hymes' passing remark: 'The Anang (Nigeria)

received their name from neighbouring Ibo, the term meaning 'ability to speak wittily yet

meaningfully upon any occasion." (Gumperz and Hymes 1972: 42).

strong case being made for this sort of identity formation. However, a

conception of ethnic identities being forged in dialogue is by no

means universal in Nigeria or outside it, as the conceptions of

ethnicity and nation displayed in the next case study make clear.

Extract B

1. Egbe Omo Yoruba

I ----- Original Message----- 2 From: FREDERICK AKINSIKU <xxxx@xxxxxx.xxx.xxx> 3 To: < > 4 Date: 30. juli 1999 05:19 J Subject: Egbe Omo Yoruba Flays Ethnic Cleansing In Kano

7 EGBE OM0 YORUBA 8 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF YORUBA DESCENDANTS IN NORTH AMERICA

9 PRESS RELEASE I0 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

11 CONTACTS: 12 Dip0 Akinsiku 13 Hakeem Fahm 14 (202) 291 9471

1s The Egbe Omo Yoruba (National Association of Yoruba Descendants in 16 North America) is disturbed by the ethnic cleansing of the Yoruba 17 people in the northern Nigerian City of Kano. 18 According to media reports, more than one hundred people have lost 19 their lives as a result of organized killings of Yoruba people. 20 While we are aware that the ethnic cleansing taking place in Kano has been 21 described by some people as a fall-out from the ethnic clash in 22 Shagamu, Ogun State, we consider the two incidents to be separate and ZJ incomparable. 24 The Shagamu clash began as a result of a flagrant disrespect for the 25 customs and religious beliefs of the good people of Shagamu by a 26 non-indigene living in the town. On the other hand, the Kano incident 27 was an organized and calculated systematic killings of Yoruba people 28 in Kano because of their ethnic origin. 29 WiLllvuL d JuuLL, Llle Slldyd~~~u cldsll wds a sponLalleuus redcLiull OK d 30 group of law abiding people who felt violated by a head strong 31 individual who insisted she must witness a religious service that was 32 closed to others including some natives. In contrast, the Kano incident 33 was a cowardly act by some intolerant ethnic and demagogues who 34 attacked their defenseless victims without provocation. 3s we would also like to point out that the outcome of the original 36 incident leading to the Shagamu clash would not have been different,

37 if indeed a sagamu native had decided to willfully disrespected the 38 religious beliefs of the people by insisting on attending a ceremony 39 as an uninvited guest. 40 Throughout Yorubaland, people are aware that certain religious rituals 41 are carried out by chosen leaders of towns. For a non- indigene or an 42 interloper to insist on witnessing such a ritual was tantamount to 43 risking the collective wellbeing of the citizens of the town. 44 People of other nationalities who must make their abode in Yoruba 45 land, must learn to respect its tradition and customs. The events 46 leading to the Shagamu incident was not the first in 47 the nation's history where all those who are contemptuous of &Q tradition were dealt with severely, regardless of their ethnic 49 background. 50 It is a generally accepted norm any where in the world, for aliens to j l show respect fur the wdys of liLe uf their IlusLs. Yuruhd rldtiurl would 52 demand nothing less from the those who chose to live within its 53 territory. All non-indigenous people in Yorubaland are warr~ed to desist 34 from any acts of provocation, and in particular, to desist from any 55 acts, that attempt to make a mockery of our esteemed culture. 56 As we continue to monitor the situation in the north, we call on the 57 federal government to talce imediate action to restore law and order, 58 and prosecute those involved in the cowardly act in Kano. 59 We must remind other nationalities within Nigeria that the Kano 60 incident is reminiscent of the ethnic cleansing of Igbo people in the North 61 in 1966. That incident led to the Nigerian civil war. If 62 the volatile situation in the north is not brought under control 63 immediately, Yoruba people would have no other choice but to defend 64 their interests by all means necessary. 65 -ends- 66 7600 Georgia Avenue NW Suite 405 67 Washington, DC 20012 68 Tel: 201 291-9471 69 Fax: ZUZ 291-94 13 70 E-mail: 71 internet:

2. Movement for a Greater Nigeria

1 July 30 1999

2 Sent to the Editors of:

3 The Guardian Newspaper,

r Abuja Elirrcr,

5 Today Newspaper,

6 Vanguard Media Group,

7 Africa EIcws Onlinc.

8 Weekly Trust,

9 Odili.Net,

1oAnd others to be decided soon

11 MGN Press Release on Shagamu and Kano Massacres

12 The Movement for a Greater Nigeria (MGN) is deeply saddened by the

13 unacccptablc and barbaric massacrcs of innoccnt Nigerians in both Shagamu

14 and Kano. We are disappointed that some Nigerians, instead of using the

15 great democratic atmosphere that is prevailing at the moment to work

16 togcthcr towards thc common good of a11 and sundry, havc (instcad) chosen

17to engage in thuggery, massacres and hooliganism.

18 We condemn, in unequivocal terms, the loss of many Nigerian lives as well

19 as thc wanton dcstruction of propcrty. It is cspccially tragic to losc s

20 single life. To lose several in such circumstance is simply a national

21 catastrophy. The emotional and financial implications inflicted on many

22 Nigerian families as a result of this carnage is too collosal to quantify.

23 We deeply condole the victims of these terrible disasters, and greatly

24 sympathize with those who have been maimed and deprived of their

25 belongings. Our prayer is that the souls of those who have departed this

26 earth find eternal rest and that the Almighty in His infinite love and

27mercy grants them comfort and heal the injured, their families and the

28 families of the departed.

29 We, at the MGN, do not wish to apportion blame, for we do not know all the

30 facts. We believe that, blame and name calling at this point will be an

31 exercise in futility, yielding more aggravation and heightening tension

32 among feuding groups. However, we must plead with all custodians of

33 various Nigcrian cthnic traditions to rcvicw cultural and customary

34 practices and rituals that justify the murder of human beings. This is

3s especially necessary for us (Nigerians) to remain a civilized,

36 pcacc-loving and tolcrant group of pcoplc that look forward to achieving

37 peace and prosperity as we enter the new millennium.

38 We urge president Olusegun Obasanjo to, as a matter of urgency, commission

39 a high-powcrcd indcpcndcnt psncl to cxsminc thc rcmotc and immcdiatc

40 causes of the violence in Shagamu and Kano, and offer immediate and long

41 term solutions. All those responsible for the mayhem must be brought to

u boolc. The President and all opinion-maltern should urge the media to avoid

43 reckless and prejudiced reporting as this can only exacerbate the crisis.

44 Furthermore, allegations of official apathy on the part of the concerned

u authorities must be fully investigated and guilty persons punished

46 accordingly. We are convinced that had the initial Shagamu mayhem been

47 handled properly and swiftly by the security and other relevant agencies,

w the massacre and destruction in Kano would have been greatly reduced if

49 not avoided.

so We commend the National Emergency Relief Agency for its commitment to

sf compensating those who have lost their property in this unfortunate

52 incidence. We urge that in addition, displaced persons should be resettled

5s with sufficient infrastructure to enable them regain their livelihood. We

54 arc particularly plcascd with thc kind and cxcmplary gcsturc of thc group,

5s Concerned Kano Citizens, not only for visiting victims sheltered at Army

56 Barracks in Kano, but also for donating goods worth half a million naira.

57 Such a humane gesture is truly consistent with the northern ideals of

ss being our brother's keeper, receptive, hospitable and all- embracing to

59 our guests irrespective of ethnic or religious affiliations.

60 We urge the Federal Government to enact the laws that are necessary to

61 reassure Nigerians that they have every right to live in any part of the

62 country that they so desire, without fear of being intimidated or

63 violated. The Government must do all that is required to gurantee the

6r safcty of thc livcs and prcpcrtics of Nigerians whcrcvcr thcy rcsidc in

65 the country.

66 We suggest that in order to avoid future occurrence of the Shagamu and

67Kano disasters, citizens and residents must be constantly reminded of the

68 sacred traditions that require special conduct in the part of the country

69 they reside, while law enforcement agents should remain vigilant by

70 patrolling all strategic locations to protect innocent citizcns.

71 If the mayhem in Shagamu and Kano is politically-motivated as is being

72 alleged in some quarters, then such instigators must be found, and no

73 matter who they are, be brought to justice. Murder cannot simply be

74 justified on any grounds, political or otherwise. The survival of our

75 hard-carncd dcmocracy as wcll as pcacc and frccdom for our citizcns arc

76 more important than the selfish political interests of any one person or

77 group. We urge all Nigerians to cooperate with the law enforcement agents

7s in finding and bringing thcsc culprits to justicc and in cnsuring that

79 such disasters never happen again in our country.

no Our country is looked upon by the international community, and Africa in

sf particular, as a bcacon of hopc for dcrnocracy, chartcring a progrcssivc

82 path towards peaceful coexistence. It is our belief that the mayhem in

a3 Shagamu and Kano diminishes this hope severely. Our role as Nigerians

8.r must be to safeguard this hope. Eschewing habits and practices that deny

85 basic freedoms and fundamental human rights becomes a must as we approach

86 the2lst century.

87 Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

88 Sincerely,

89 Signed:

[There follows a list of 133 names, with titles, cities of origin and

countries of residence, which has been excised.]

CASE STUDY 2 - Two Press Releases

This extract consists of two press releases originally published

independently by separate organisations, and distributed via many

media channels, of which soc.culture.nigeria is only one. The

statements, by the Egbe Omo Yoruba (EOY), and the Movement for

a Greater Nigeria (MGN) both concern the same recent events - communal clashes leading to killings in the town of Shagamu (Ogun

State), and Kano city. They are thus concerned with the most serious

consequences of Nigerian identity politics, but for this very reason

should not be neglected. In addition, the form they take is interesting

to compare with the previous example: they are far closer to

traditional print media than to spoken dialogue. Nevertheless,

considering the releases from a dialogic viewpoint is still helpful, for

two reasons. On the one hand, their shared concerns and differing

positions place them within the framework of an (inter)national

Nigerian debate, even if they do not directly refer to each other. The

added responses of other Nigerians around the Internet, touched on

in the following discussion, highlight this broader public discussion.

On the other hand, a sensitivity to dialogue can call attention to the

tensions within each text. Conflicting discourses of human rights and

ethnic pride, national unity and regional tradition are all mobilised,

and managed with varying degrees of success in both extracts.

Both releases were made on the same day (30th July), about the

same events, and although they were made independently of one

another, their shared concerns meant they were necessarily

addressed together once in the public realm. Indeed, one poster to

the newsgroup forwarded them both in a single message, as a pair.

For this reason they are considered together in this chapter.

It is legitimate to query the analysis, in this dissertation, of texts

written perhaps primarily for other media. However, the radically

intertextual nature of the newsgroup, where almost all the material

originates elsewhere (whether in a newspaper or email discussion)

means there is nothing unusual about texts like this. Rather, they

have formed the fundamental content of soc.culture.nigeria ever

since its inception. The importance of the texts within the

interconnected, decentralised context of the loose "Nigerian

communication network" can be gauged by the fact that the Egbe

Omo Yoruba release was actually posted to the group four times over

the course of a few days. The releases took various separate routes:

one copy was sent directly to the newsgroup, one via yoruba-net,

another through Naijanet and so on. This multi-media network is also

visible in the list of addresses in the MGN's release [3-101: both

conventional Nigerian newspapers and online news sources are

included.

Not only the distribution of these texts, but their production too relied

on the full gamut of these networks: newspaper, telephone, postal,

email, Usenet, World-Wide Web. Both releases originate with

diasporic groups for whom such media are fundamental. The Egbe

Omo Yoruba, based in Washington DC, is formally constituted as a

organisation covering the entire United States. By contrast, the

"Movement for a Greater Nigeria" who present the second release

appear to be a coalition created specifically for this purpose. They

append a list of 133 signatories, distributed around the world; only

eight give Nigeria as their country of residence.'' This geographic

spread suggests it would have been impossible to draft and garner

support for the text so quickly without the use of media like the

Internet.

In the Egbe Omo Yoruba's release (Extract Bl), despite the

translation of their name being given as "National Association of

Yoruba Descendants in North America" [8,16], "North America"

seems entirely absent from the text. Rather, the key identity

expressed here is that which appears in the email and WWW

addresses [3,70,71]: the "Yoruba Nation". This identity is constructed

in classically nationalist terms: as a single people of unique culture

and heritage who possess a given, defined territory with a common

history. The nation's culture and land are indissolubly linked, such

that "aliens" must "show respect for the ways of life of their hosts" [50-

11 when "within its territory" [52-31. Some attempt is even made to

explain these customs in non-ethnic terms [37, 48-91, though there

seems little possibility of outsiders gaining 'Yoruba citizenship' with

words such as "interloper" and "non-indigene" [42; 26,411 describing

people "of other nationalities" [44]. Such descriptions deny the multi-

Five list no country. Whilst the USA and UK are the two largest sources of signatories,

with 56 and 28 respectively, the remaining third are truly globally spread, around Europe,

ethnic situation asserted by some Nigerian critics of the text

elsewhere on the Internet: one writer to Odili.Netls bulletin board

notes that there have been Hausas in Shagamu for a hundred years.

This portrayal of Yoruba identity in exclusively nationalist terms is not

compatible with a Nigerian nationalism. Thus, emphasis is placed on

the federal nature of the government (571, and on Nigeria as

composed of multiple "nationalities" [59]. The text positions itself as

one nation speaking to the others with whom it (provisionally) shares

a political state, but the only other "nation" mentioned by the name

are the Igbo, this in the context of the Nigerian Civil War [60-11. The

Hausa are referred to only tangentially and geographically ("the

volatile situation in the north" [62]), despite their deep involvement in

the situation. Paradoxically, therefore, the main symbol drawn from

common Nigerian experience (the history of the Biafran conflict) is

one of division, as well as great violence.

Other historical symbolism is contained within the text, however, not

least the name of the group (Egbe Omo Yoruba) which strongly

recalls the Independence-era politics of Chief Awolowo, the most

famous Yoruba political leader. Matory (1994: 70-71) and Nnoli

(1980:104) refer to the creation in the late 1940s of the association

which would later become the Action Group: "Egbe Omo Odudua"

("The Association of Odudua's Children", in Matory's translation).

Asia, South America, Africa and especially the Islamic countries of Saudi Arabia and

Malaysia.

Both Matory and Dr Omoigui in the previous case study note that the

use of Oduduwa as a symbol of common Yoruba identity was

politically charged, forging a united Yorubaland from the pre-colonial

political fragmentation of Yoruba-speaking people. The EOY does not

invoke him directly, but the echoes in the association's name place

the organisation in a context of postcolonial Yoruba politics in Nigeria.

Another party, the Oodua People's Congress (OPC) has been very

active within Nigeria's South-Western region throughout the entire

transitional period, and has been associated with several outbreaks

of violence at demonstrations. In mainstream Nigerian politics, the

opposition party led by Bola Ige, Alliance for Democracy (AD), is also

connected to this tradition. The AD'S name echoes that of Awolowo's

Action Group (AG); and Bola Ige was guest of honour at the Egbe

Omo Yoruba's recent convention in the US.

Examining specifically Yoruba, or even Nigerian symbols and

language, however, is to overlook the extremely significant form of

the text: in Standard English, in the genre of an international press

release. This format carries its own discursive conventions and

demands: criteria such as "newsworthiness", and "impartialityn come

into play. It also places the text into the context of "world newsn, and

it is from this that the phrase "ethnic cleansing" [5,16,20] is drawn,

together with its grave connotations and resonances after events in

the Balkans. (Similar connotations apply to the final phrase "by all

means necessary" [64]). The authority and claim to international

status by the EOY are perhaps enhanced further by a prestigious

address in Washington DC, a locale of great political "centrality"

globally; however, this is area of tension within the text which will be

examined later.

The central identity expressed in the MGN's press release (Extract

82) is less unambiguous, but firstly the group's name "Movement for

a Greater Nigeria" foregrounds the Nigerian nation as a core theme.

This is borne out by the collective self-description of "us (Nigerians)"

[35] and the emphasis on Nigerian families, lives and citizenship

recurring throughout [18,22,61,75,77,83], as well as the concluding

"Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria" [87]. Rather than

describing a federation of distinct, ethnically based nations, the MGN

writes only of "feuding groups" [32] and the "various Nigerian ethnic

traditions" [33].

Secondly, this Nigerian nationalism is tempered with a strong

universalist, humanist (though non-secular) tendency: human lives

[34] and human rights [85] are invoked, as well as the situation of

Nigeria within "the international community" [80]. The prayer to "the

Almighty in His infinite love" [26], while explicitly monotheistic,

precludes neither Christian nor Muslim involvement. The

combination of Nigerian nationalism with humanitarianism in this text

is one which grants recognition and respect to the same "cultural and

customary practices" [33-41 which form the foundations of the Egbe's

Yoruba nationalism, yet in which they are subject to "review" [33],

thus adapting them to a united, humane and democratic Nigeria. The

same issues and practices are confronted in this text as in the Egbe's

(the custom of curfew on non-Yoruba and women during Shagamu's

Om festival). However, given different lines of identity and inclusion,

different priorities emerge. The discourse of the EOY would be

unlikely to admit the possibility of "reviewing" such traditions.

However, there is a final layer of identity invoked within the text,

beneath the nationalist and universalist appeals. The actions of the

"Concerned Kano Citizens" group are praised for their

humanitarianism,lg but for the reason that this is:

truly consistent with the northern ideals of being our brother's keeper, receptive,

hospitable, and all-embracing to our guests irrespective of ethnic or religious

affiliations. (57-91 (my emphasis)

This appeal to "our" "northern" ideals is given added salience

because of the 133 signatories, resident in thirteen countries, all

without exception are from northern Nigeria. This does not sit well

with the "Greater Nigeria" claims of the overwhelming majority of the

text, especially as it is not made explicit in the main text (though

almost all the signatories include their home towns alongside their

names). Again, this internal tension will be explored below.

Taking the releases together, then, we have two English texts of

identical genre (the press release), collaboratively produced by

Nigerians living in diaspora, describing the same events and

distributed on the same day. The events in question are violent

'' It is interesting to note the identiiy adopted by this group, as 'Kano Citizens", in the

light of Paden's (1967:268) assertion that the category Kanawa was itself an 'ethnic

identity", growing in importance.

attacks on Hausa people by some Yoruba citizens, and on Yoruba by

some Hausa people; one release is composed by a group who

identify with the Yoruba, the other exclusively by people who may be

expected to identify with the Hausa. However, the arguments are put

forward in very different terms, and very different categories used.

Though both are written in English and tap into international

discourses to support their arguments, one draws on the language of

war reporting and "ethnic cleansing", the other uses the rhetoric of

human rights and democracy. The two pieces are not mirror images

of one another: lines of identity between the groups are not clearly

drawn and generally accepted.

The reception of the texts by Nigerian readers are also widely

divergent, to judge by the critical responses produced by Nigerians

who posted their reactions in various locations on the Internet. I

located six of these rejoinders, all from Nigerians abroad, of various

ethnic backgrounds. The declared ethnicity of each writer does not

predetermine their stance: for instance, one lgbo writer on Odili.Net

takes a Nigerian nationalist, modernist viewpoint. Traditional

practices of many Nigerian groups, including the Igbo, are

condemned as "barbarous anachronism". The MGN is chastised for

its moderate lack of "balance", and the EOY's "jingoism" is

condemned outright. The Biafran conflict is alluded to obliquely, as

the painful "lesson" of history. By contrast, another lgbo respondent

challenges the EOY on different terms, directly attacking their allusion

to the pogroms and civil war. He recalls the betrayal felt by lgbo

separatists when the Yoruba South-West did not follow Biafra into

secession, but sided with "the ethnic cleansers of the North".

Other responses seized on the press releases' internal

contradictions, such as those outlined above. The MGN's lack of

"federal character" was widely remarked: this term describes its

overwhelmingly Northern makeup in terms of the Nigerian legal

principle that requires federal public institutions in Nigeria to

represent different regions and groups proportiona~ly.~~ Furthermore,

though the expatriate status of the MGN went largely unremarked,

the EOY's location in Washington was heavily emphasised. Two

reasons are given for this condemnation of their expatriation

(significantly, by other Nigerians who live abroad). Firstly, their

discursive strategy of distinguishing "interlopersn from citizens native

to a territory leaves them open to these same accusations. This is

dangerous ground for Nigerians resident in countries such as the

USA and Britain, where the politics of race and immigration are

perennially controversial. Perhaps more importantly however, the

vehemence of the EOY's rhetoric is seen as dangerous and out of

place, especially since this sort of inflammatory media reporting was

seen as playing a part in igniting the retaliation attacks in Kano. As

one writer put it: "Emotional publications easily provoke irrational

anger that aggravates bad situations". Such incitement is portrayed

ZQ See Nnoli (1980: 268ff) for a discussion of the origins of the "federal character'

concept, in the 1976 Contiiutional Draft Committee.

as particularly inappropriate given the EOY1s own relative safety in

the distant USA.

The examination of these texts has highlighted several points: firstly,

that the arena of Nigerian identity politics is a global one. Nigerians in

diaspora are directly aware of and engaged with communal contests

in Nigeria, and play a role in reporting and judging these contests

(though that role is different from the the roles of those at home).

This engagement is possible through a broad spectrum of

interconnected communications networks: press, telephone, and

international air travel, as well as Internet media. It also functions in

both directions, carrying news of Nigeria to the diaspora, and giving

the diaspora a voice in Nigerian newspapers. This intertextuality is

so intrinsic to the process that it is often not possible to see a given

text as 'belonging' to one or other medium. Secondly, the language

in operation through these intertextual channels is one that draws on

"international" discourses as much as specifically "Nigerian" ones;

indeed this may be a necessity given the use of international media

as a space for the debates.

Furthermore, the politics of identity transacted in these texts are far

more complex than simple assertions of affiliation to one ethnic group

or other. Tensions over the definitions and interrelation of identities

('Nigerian'; 'Yoruba'; 'traditional'; 'modern'; 'international'; 'Northern',

for instance) exist not only between texts but also within them.

Different layers of identity are not simply nested in some sort of

hierarchy ("Hausa", "Northerner", "Nigerian", "Muslim", "humann, for

example): they interact unpredictably and variously depending on the

exact context. This said, the category of "Nigerian" has a special

significance in some ways, given the existence of the Federal

government which lends contests at the national Nigerian level a

particular political and economic weight. The Federal state remains

the centre of gravity for the overlapping histories of many groups,

however they are defined; this is a point will be which will be touched

on again later in the dissertation.

Extract C

"Of 4 19ers and Superheroes"

From: Osofisan ~uuuur@uuur.uu.ux>

Subject: Of 419ers and Superheroes

Datc: 07 August 1999 14:30

Your intentions are passable. It's okay to want to re-educate greedy

gullibles who desire to harvest a field they never sowed. These Few

Nigerians stain the rest of us and the great nation we're from.

I fear, however, that you are taking your battle beyond the front. Obasanjc

is not a saint (ncithcr arc you, if wc look bcyond thc mask you show thc

world). Nigeria has had democracy for only a few months. There are obvious1

issues more pressing than WHO ELSE WANTS TO FLEECE A PEOPLE AND NATION

ALREADY PAUPERIZED.

419 "victims" are no better than Abacha, Babangida and their cohorts who

vampircd my pcoplc. Thcy'rc also trying to steal from Nigcrians by colludil

with the notorious 419er.

Which brings me back to you. What exactly are you profiting from this

ncar-frcnzy to tcll thc world about 419crs from Nigcria? Arc you willing tc

balance your information with tales of Nigerians like 25yr old Rick Famuyil

whose movie, The Wood, is now playing in American theaters? How about the

thousands of Nigcrian doctors braV~cly saving Amcrican livcs around thc

clock? The lawyers, the IT professionals?

It isn't fair for folks like you to get on the rooftop, cloaked in the tog

of anothcr agcnda, hurling stoncs at a wholc pcoplc, your minds closcd tig

23 like the vaults of hell. Your so-called "FIVE RULES FOR DOING BUSINESS WITH

24 PIICERIA" shroud ALL Nigerians under the same pall. Have you been knighted

25 for your bravery, o hero of the western world? Your consultancy business,

26 what percentage of the monies you save comes to you?

27 We have enough problems in Nigeria without folks like you goading the wild

28 horscs of co~trovrsy into our markctplscc. Givc us a brcsk!

ARE YOU IN THE EOOK? www.niger ians inamer ica .com * * * * * * + t * * * * * + t * * * t * * + * * * * + * t * * * * * t * * t * * * + * * * t * + * * . * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

C. A. Pascale <xxxxx@xxxx.xxx> wrote in message

ncws:37P,BAE7E.?E347CCO@ric~ .~:ct...

h t t p : / / h o m e . r i c a . n e t / a l p h a e / 4 1 9 c o a l / sorry, way past bedtime.

>

Most of the readers of scan already know anyway, though.

>

Good Night.

,

"C. A. Pascale" wrote:

> . Sorry about the typos, late, long week, and the > URL for those interested is:

> . http://home.rica.net./alphae/419coal/ >

> Apologies ,

> Pascale

> Coordinator

> 419 Coalition > * * + + * * * * * + t t + * t +

> . " C . A. Pascale" wrote:

55 >

56 > > Folks:

57 > >

58 ? > Apparently NOTHING is sacred : : See below.

59 > >

60 > > BTW we are still averaging over 60 hits on main page a day under

61 > > thc Obasanjo govcrnmcnt, just wc wc did undcr its prcdcccssors,

62 >>FYI.

63 > >

64 > > Pascale

65 > > Coordinator

66 > > 419 http://homc.rica.nct.a1phac/419cosl/

67 > >

68 > > Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 17:15:33 -0700 (PDT)

69 > > From: IDOWU USMAN <idowuusman@yahoo.com>

70 > > Subject: RE: INVESTMENT

71 > > TO: @fl.net.au

72 > > MIME-Vcrsion: 1.0

73 > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

74 > >

75 ? ? ? SUBJECT: INVESTMENTS

76 > >

77 ? . SIR, 78 > >

79 > > I AM BELL0 USMA, SECRETARY TO THE NIGERIAN FOOTBALL

80 > > ASSOCIATION,P.WENT BODY OF THE NIGERIA '99 LOCAL ORGANIZING COMMITTEE,

81 > > AN AFFILIATE OF FEDERATION OF INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION

82 > > (FIFA).

83 > >

84 > > IN THE COURSE OF OUR PREPARATION TO HOST THE WORLD YOUTH SOCCER

85 > > CHAMPIONSHIP TAGGED NIG'99 EARLY THIS YEAR HUGE SUMS OF MONEY RUNNING

86 > > INTO MILLIONS OF UNITED STATES DOLLARS WAS BUDGETED BY THE THEN

87 > > MILITARY GOVERNMENT FOR THE SUCCESSFUL ORGANIZATION OF THIS

88 > > COMPETITION.

89 > >

> > IN THE SAME VEIN, FIFA VIA HIS PRESIDENT ,SEPP BLATTER

> ? MADE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS AVAILAELE FOR THE SAME PROJECT MOT TO TALK OF

> > CORPORATE ORGANIZATIONS AND FOOTBALL LOVING INDIVIDUALS WHO MADE HUGE

? > DONATIONS.

> > . 5 HOWEVER IN MY CAPACITY AS THE SECRETARY, TO BOTH THE LOCAL ORGANIZING

> > COMMITTEE (LOC) AND THE NIGERIAN FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION (NFA), I AND

SOME

? ? OF MY COLLEAGUES IN SENSITIVE POSITIONS WEP.E ABLE TO OVER-INVOICE MOST

> > CONTRACTS WHICH WERE AWARDED FOR THE CONSTRUCTION AND THE RENRBISHING

? ? OF THE 8 STAOIA USED FOF. THE COXPETITION. THE CONTPACTORS WHO HANDLED

> > THESE PROJECTS HAVE BEEN PAID-OFF.

> >

> > IT IS PERTINENT TO KNOW THAT A TOTAL OF THIRTY TWO MILLION UNITED

? ? STATES DOLLARS (US$ 10,520,000) WAS REALIZED AS OVER-IbNOICE AFTER THE

> > SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF ALL THE STADIA. THIS OVER-INVOICED SUM IS

> > LYING IN A SUSPENSE ACCOUNT IN LONDON READY FOR REMITTANCE INTO AN

? ? OVERSEAS ACCOUNT.

> > . . PUE TO THE RECENT DIRECTIVE BY THE PRESIDENT TO CLOSE ALL LOC FOREIGN > > ACCOUNTS WITHIN 17 DAYS FROM THE 29TH OF JULY I HAVE BEEN UNANIMOUSLY

> > MANDATED TO SEEK FOR A HONEST AND TRUSTWORTHY FOREIGNER WHO WILL

ASSIST

> > IN ENSURING THE SUCCESSFUL TRANSFER OF THE ABOVE SUM WHICH WE HAVE

BEEN

> > SAFEGUARDING INTO HIS PERSONAL/COMPANY ACCOUNT SINCE THE NIGERIAN CODE

? > OF CONDUCT DOES NOT ALLOW US TO OPERATE A FOREIGN ACCOUNT.

> >

> > ON SUCCESSFUL REMITTANCE OF FUND (US$ 40,520.000.00) IT IS AGREED THAT

> > 30% OF THE TOTAL FUND WILL EE FOR YOU, WHILE 5% WILL BE USED TO SETTLE

> > ANY EXPENSES THAT MIGHT BE INCURRED BY BOTH PARTIES AND THE REMAINING

> > 65% WILL BE FOR US (TO BE INVESTED FOR US INTO FOREIGN INVESTMENT BY

> > YOU IN YOUR COUNTRY).

> >

> > YOU MIGHT BE SURPRISED AND CURIOUS AT AN OFFER LIKE THIS, BE REST

> > ASSURED THAT THE MODALITIES AND LOGISTICS TOWARDS SUCCESSFUL TRANSFER

> > OF THIS FUND HAS BEEN WORKED OUT. ALL WE REQUIRE FROM YOU IS YOUR

> > CO-OPERATION. THE PROPOSI'SION THOUGH MAY NOT FALL WITHIN THE WIDE

> > SPECTRUM OF YOUR BUSINESS CONSULTING AND COMMERCIAL ACTIVITIES KNOW IT

> > STRICTLY THAT YOUR BUSINESS LINES DOES NOT MATTER, FATHER YOUR

> > WILLINGNESS TO TAKE PART TOWARDS THE ACHIEVEMENT OF THIS PROJECT IS

> > MOST PARAMOUNT.

> >

> > THIS TRANSACTION IS LEAK PROOF AND URGENT. WE KINDLY REQUEST THAT YOU

> > ACCORD IT THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF SECRECY IT DESERVES. YOUR SWIFT

RESPONSE

> > WILL BE HIGHLY APPRECIATED.PLEASE YOU CAN F.EACH ME BY E-MAIL

> > BELLOUSMA@YAHOO.COM OR THROUGH MY FAX NUMBER : 873-761-966-261.

> >

> > THANKS

> >

' ' BEST REGARDS > > . . BELL0 USMA >

CASE STUDY 3 - "Of 419ers and Superheroes"

The final text to be discussed does not touch on ethnicity at all, but is

concerned only with Nigerian national identity. This posting is highly

complex in structure: it contains passages written by three different

authors in widely differing styles. It is also an example of discourse

entirely produced in, and shaped by, the communicative environment

of soc.culture.nigeria itself. This chapter will first explain the structure

of the text, and clarify the sequence of events. Its apparent

coherence as conversation is then questioned, in terms of the nature

of the audiences addressed by the different writers. In this light,

attention is given to the various linguistic styles employed. Having

emphasised the disjunctions of the extract, the chapter then

considers the points where dialogic connections are made in the text,

and describes the place of Nigerian identity in this dialogue.

The text printed here is a single post to soc.cultum.nigeria in its

entirety, made by the Nigerian writer identified as Osofisan [l] in

response to a series of posts by C.A.Pascale [50], co-ordinator of the

419 coalition.'' It also reproduces an email sent by a "419" fraudster,

posing as "Bello Usma" [79]. These three writers all appear in the

21 "419" refers to an article in the Nigerian criminal code (Pascale 1999a). It is now used

to describe the specific form of fraud seen here, where the fraudster approaches a target

in the developed world by letter, fax or email offering them a portion of stolen money in

return for bank details. The term has also passed into wider use in Nigerian English to

describe deceit in everyday contexts.

single post because of the practice on Usenet and email of

appending previous messages to one's reply. This is necessary to

provide a measure of coherence, given the often confusing nature of

asynchronous communication in Usenet. The extract here is the

product of a cumulative series of such reproductions, after a chain of

events which originally ran as follows:

(0. The anonymous recipient of a '419' email forwards it to Pascale's 419 Coalition)

1. Pascale makes the first post to soc.culture.nigeria: he gives a website address or

"URL" [56-671 and forwards the email [68-1441

2. Pascale corrects his first post. [42-551

3. Pascale corrects his second post. [34-41)

4. Osofisan's post, taking issue with the content of the website. [I-331

The post shown here is number 4, and consequently includes the

entire 'thread'. Note that the chronological sequence of events, given

above, is reversed in the extract, since earlier messages are added

afler each reply.

Unlike the previous two case studies, the text in this extract (except

for the 419 letter itself) was written specifically for soc.culture.nigeria:

not for one of the email lists, such as Naijanet, nor for wider

distribution. This means that the encounter is in the entirely open,

public space of Usenet, a social setting quite in contrast with both the

closed space of lgbo-net, and the different constraints of print. Misty

Bastian (1996:8-9) notes that the open nature of Usenet means

Nigerians are not guaranteed a "majority space" in

soc.culture.nigeria, and that this may explain why discussion on the

Listservs remains more popular than using the newsgroup directly.

As we see here, Nigerians are far more likely to encounter

"outsiders", such as Americans, on the newsgroup. In Goffman's

terms (1959), soc.culture.nigeria is a "frontstage" area from a

Nigerian perspective."

The use of the second person in the extract ("Your intentions are

passable" [4], "folks like you" [27], etc.) positions Osofisan's text as a

turn in a conversation. However, the absence of any reply, and the

fact that the original writings did not seek his response, make this

exchange very different from a normal conversation. Conversation

analysis, a branch of discourse analysis concerned with dialogue in

talk, has theorized the rules that structure normal oral interactions in

terms of concepts like turn-taking and adjacency pairs. Schiffrin

notes that "the exchange of turns is ... critical to the emergent

architecture of intersubjectivity and accountability built through talk

(1994:238). Such structures are entirely absent from this "exchange",

even allowing for the fact that Usenet is an asynchronous medium

(participants are not reading each other's posts at the same moment

in time). There are no "sequentially ordered displays of

understandings to which actors are mutually accountable" (Schiffrin

Goffman's theatrical metaphors of "frontstage" and 'backstage" areas describe social

settings only in relation to a given collective identity, not absolutely. While we might

consider a group such as Naijanet to be 'backstage" from a Nigerian viewpoint,

compared to a frontstage area like soc.culture.nigeria, the same forum could be seen as

"frontstage" from an lgbo perspective, say. And in Case Study 2, lgbonet is frontstage

for Dr Omoigui, but remains backstage for the lgbo members.

1994:238-9); the text has a high degree of "incoherence" (Herring

1999). Neither print nor speech typically exhibit so little coherence:

the tight editorial control associated with the former, and immediate

social checks and balances of the latter, would regulate the flow of

dialogue in most situations. However, the asynchronous, decentered

Usenet is clearly displaying its lack of "closure" (discussed in Part I) in

this extract. Another fundamental component of this openness, or

looseness, is the fact that nothing on Usenet compels any participant

to reply if they do not feel it is in their interests: for example, Pascale

simply ignores Osofisan's challenge (at least publically), and refuses

to make any sort of connection. The only pressures acting on the

participants with any force stem from outside the immediate social

context.

This is not 'a conversation', then, lacking the sort of mutually

understood definitions of setting and scene that ethnographers of

communication might seek in order to investigate a "speech

communityn (Gumperz and Hymes 1972:60). In fact, these texts do

not seem to belong to a single speech community at all. This is

reflected in the heterogeneity of the three authors' language styles,

even though all three use "Standard English" (not Pidgin) throughout.

The features of each writers' language use will be examined in

chronological sequence, beginning with the 419er him or herself.

The successful execution of the 419 fraud requires the recipient of

the letter to accept its authenticity, as emanating from a corrupt but

institutionally well-connected source within ~ iger ia . *~ They must be

taken in sufficiently for the promise of almost incredible riches to be at

least possibly believable, which in turn should persuade them to part

with their bank details. Many media have been used in the execution

of this scam: headed letters, faxes, telephones, even advertisements

placed in Nigerian newspapers. Email promises the fraudster a

relatively cheap, anonymous and untraceable new medium, but its

other characteristics - the loss of closure and authority noted in

Chapter 3 - militate against its usefulness. Consequently, the 419er

here attempts to employ a language that will imbue computer-

mediated text with the authority of print. The creation of email

addresses in the names of "IdowuUsman" and "BelloUsma" [69,137]

and the provision of a fax number are the first step to this end - although locating the addresses at the free email service,

Yahoo.Com, may raise rather than allay the suspicions of a wary

recipient.

The use of upper-case lettering throughout the message could

possibly be intended to acquire an air of authority and facticity,

though this is only speculation. More interesting is the fact that the

message is letter-perfect throughout, without a single spelling or

typing error. This is distinctive enough in itself for computer-mediated

text: compare Pascale's section of the extract. It is particularly

This particular attempt at 419 was not, of Wurse, successful. The suspicious

mpient's fowarding of the mall to the 4 19 Coalifion led to the email's Bppearam on soc.culhms.nigeria in the first place.

95

remarkable given the contrast with the author's obvious grammatical

difficulties, e.g. "BE REST ASSURED THAT THE MODALITIES AND

LOGISTICS TOWARDS SUCCESSFUL TRANSFER OF THIS FUND

HAS BEEN WORKED OUT." [124-61 The overall impression is one

of thorough, deliberate effort with a dictionary, emphasising the need

to maintain authenticity by avoiding slips. This attempt at establishing

discursive authority by linguistic effort is reflected in the vocabulary,

which draws heavily on the language of business English. The sums

involved are described as "REALIZED AS OVER-INVOICE", and

"READY FOR REMITTANCE" [104, 1061; the 419er allays any fears

that "THE PROPOSITION THOUGH MAY NOT FALL WITHIN THE

WIDE SPECTRUM OF YOUR BUSINESS CONSULTING AND

COMMERCIAL ACTIVITIES" [127-81.

Finally, the main tactic employed to seek discursive authority lies with

the intertextual references to FlFA and Nigeria '99 [80-821, on which

the author bases the email's fictitious identity. The recipient, a non-

Nigerian, may well have come across the international media

attention attracted by the recent Nigeria '99 World Youth Cup. The

419 scam is based on the possibility that these sort of agreements

between the scam letter, and the wider press, may convince the

reader of the letter's authenticity. Paradoxically, it also helps if the

reader is aware of the international association of Nigeria with

corruption!

The second author (C.A.Pascale of the 419 Coalition) uses very

different language. With no need to fight for acceptance of its

authenticity, this style is far closer to the classic 'written speech' style

common with email and Usenet communication; it is informal in its

terms of address and syntax alike. Conventional abbreviations are

used, not only "URL" (Uniform Resource Locator) 1431, but also

"BTW" ('By The Way'), and "FYI" ('For Your Information') [60, 621.

The conventional typographic symbols called 'smileys' or 'emotiwns'

are also used: " :) :) " [58], to indicate good humour. There are a

few typographic mistakes, such as the slips in the Web address, to

which Pascale refers himself (45,661. "Most readers of scann [36]

probably means "Most readers of scn", an abbreviation of

'soc. culture. nigeria' .

The final author in this extract, the Nigerian Osofisan, adopts a

different style again. No abbreviations are used, and his typography

and spelling are flawless as for the first writer. The English here is

not an awkwardly attained business jargon, but a flowing, literary

prose style, however. This affective, image-rich rhetoric contrasts

sharply with Pascale's informal but functional tone. Though

ostensibly addressed to Pascale, such rhetorical flourishes as "Have

you been knighted for your bravery, o hero of the western world?"

[24-5) hint that the text is written with a larger audience in mind. The

use of the first person plural, rather than singular (e.g. "We have

enough problems in Nigeria ... Give us a break") [27-81 positions

Osofisan as speaking on behalf of Nigerians collectively, and again

implies the presence of a wider group.

The highly heteroglossic nature of the extract, and its lack of

conversational structural features, obscure the dialogic connections

between the separate parts of this text. However, these are linked in

some meaningful ways by their shared intertextual points of

reference, and consequently by their use of 'Nigerian' as a category

of identity. It is not immediately obvious from Osofisan's message,

for instance, that he is responding not primarily to Pascale's prior

postings in themselves, but to the 419 Coalition website which they

advertise. Osofisan quotes it verbatim in his critique ("FIVE RULES

FOR DOING BUSINESS WITH NIGERIA") [23-41; the whole tenor of

his argument ("have you been knighted for your bravery?") [24-51

makes more sense if read in the light of the ~ebsi te. '~

A significant common reference to media beyond the newsgroup can

also be seen to link Pascale's text and that of the 419er. Pascale's

ironic aside that "Apparently NOTHING is sacred :) :)" [58] refers to

importance of football to Nigerian national identity. He states on the

Coalition website: "Nigerians are justifiably proud of their World Cup

Contender Super Eagles football team, and of hosting the World

Youth Soccer Championships." (Pascale 1999b). The 419er is

relying on exactly this kind of association between Nigeria and

football being made by the international reader, to bait the scam

letter.

24 The site contains too much material to reproduce here. In my opinhon, Osofisan's reading of

its subtext - Pascale's personal crusade or "battle" r] against the 419ers and the Niger~an

government - is not unjust.

Shared points of intertextual reference make possible such dialogue

as there is between the writers. The area of dialogue of most

relevance to the present study is the use by both Osofisan and

Pascale of the Nigerian nation as a single Nigerian category.

Nowhere in either writer's texts, on the soc.culture.nigeria or on either

of their linked websites, is 'Nigeria' subdivided on ethnic, religious or

other communal lines; neither is it ever subsumed under a larger

African or Black identity. This agreement goes no further than the

validity of such an identity, however, for its content is a site of great

struggle in Osofisan's posting. This struggle is one fought over

moral, rather than cultural or geographical, territory.

Nigeria is constructed by Osofisan in patriotic terms as a single,

united "great nation" [6]; "a whole people" [22]. It is, however, a place

confronted with pressing issues [lo] and problems [27]; a place of

victimhood that has been "pauperizedn [ I l l and "vampiredn [13].

Despite this suffering, Nigeria is still a nation able to attain great

achievements. It has recently become democratic 191. It is the place

of origin (61 for a diaspora achieving great professional success in

America, as actors, doctors, lawyers and IT professionals [18-201;

they are even "bravely saving American lives" [19].

To undermine the 419 Coalition's portrayal of a Nigeria where fraud is

institutionalised, and even the government colludes with "the bad

guys" (Pascale 1999c), Osofisan first sidesteps Pascale's

accusations by drawing a distinction between the 419ers ("These

Few Nigerians" [5-61) and "the rest of us". Two strategies are then

used to argue against Pascale's attack on Nigeria's moral standing:

Osofisan firstly calls for balance and fairness [17,21], and then

accuses of Pascale of concealment himself. Images of covering recur

throughout the text ("maskn, "cloaked", "shroud" [8,21,24]).

To conclude, the openness of the Usenet environment in which

soc.culture.nigeria is located has had several important effects on the

development of the text examined here. Firstly, it has given rise to an

"exchange" far less structured and coherent than conventional

conversations, or indeed almost any other event of communication.

This is reflected both in the absence of turn-taking and in the

heterogeneity of language use. Secondly, the audience affects the

lines of identity which are drawn. The audience of Usenet is both

open, and largely invisible to the writers. The openness contributed

here to the consolidation of identity along national lines, since in this

instance it has brought Nigerians and Americans into contact, rather

than lgbo and Edo, or Christians and Muslims. The undefined nature

of the rest of the audience gives all the authors scope to redraw the

lines of identity for themselves. For Pascale, 'we' are the 419

Coalition, 'you' are the "folks" who read soc.culture.nigeria , and 'they'

are the evil 419ers. For Osofisan, 'we' are Nigerians (of whom 'I' am

a writer); 'you' are the misguided, though "passable" Pascale, and

'they' are the few thieves in Nigeria who include both the 419ers and

corrupt presidents like General Abacha. Identities are open to

contestation, precisely because of the exchange's loose structure.

Amidst this discursive chaos, dialogue is held together by intertextual

references by all the writers to media and texts lying outside the

newsgroup itself. Which references a writer employs depends on

their aims and strategies, in their particular dialogic context. These

connections to other discourses are, however, almost essential for a

newsgroup like soc.culture.nigeria to carry any coherence at all. In

the concluding section, we will investigate further the many

centrifugal pressures pulling at any dialogue in this setting, and place

these into an overall context.

CONCLUSION

The texts examined in Part Two of this dissertation are quite

disparate in the sorts of identities expressed: for instance, ethnic,

national, and professional claims all play their part. It is no

coincidence that the three examples also vary widely in the ways their

dialogues are structured: the first is modelled on a "lecture and

discussion" event, the second as a pair of formal print-based texts

which only later came to be regarded together, and the third example

is a fairly complex sequence of utterances linked together by varying

degrees of mutual reference. It is fairly uncontroversial to argue the

situationalist line that these different sorts of setting are likely to affect

the ways identity is deployed. For instance, I may have many

identities simultaneously: my nationality, gender and generation, to

name a few. Rather than competing at all times to displace each

other, they simply become more or less relevant depending on the

people and situations I encounter. Long-term trends, that change the

sorts of situations I find myself in most often, will then affect which of

these identities are most important to the way I view myself.

Such long-term trends lie at the centre of Nnoli's work, tracing the

formation and transformation of ethnic identity within Nigeria by

placing the emphasis squarely on "the contact situation" (Nnoli

1978:39). For the period he studies, this is the Nigerian colonial

urban centre which gave rise to new encounters, and new contests.

The consequences of these shifts then travelled along urban-rural

networks to produce changes even in rural communities far from the

metropolitan centres themselves. This emphasis on contact as the

heart of identity shifts the viewpoint away from individual actors

surrounded by external social forces, and forces consideration onto

the kinds of contact that occur. Understood in these terms, the

changing contact situations brought about by the use of new media

like email and Usenet by globally dispersed Nigerian social networks,

may, then, have effects not dissimilar to those Nnoli describes. None

of the exchanges examined in the previous chapters, divergent as

they are, could have taken place in their present forms without the

use of these media. However, oversimplifying the parallel between

urbanisation and the spread of the lnternet would be quite misleading

as these phenomena are very different in kind. Colonial urbanisation

produced very persistent, and sometimes very coherent identity

formations with directly far-reaching consequences. It is not clear

that the lnternet alone will produce anything like these effects:

indeed, the medium's lack of closure and the difficulties it presents for

creating coherent, persistent understanding militate against such a

possibility. The comparison will be examined in greater detail below,

using concepts borrowed from Bakhtin's work on dialogue.

To understand contact as it is mediated through language in

particular, Bakhtin's conception of opposing centrifugal and

centripetal forces operating throughout language and culture are

particularly useful. "Every concrete utterance of a speaking subject

serves as a point where centrifugal as well as centripetal forces are

brought to bear" (Bakhtin 1981:272). The demands of "unitary

languagen, necessary for understanding in any communication, are

always opposed by the stratifying, centrifugal forces of heteroglossia.

Some balance between these two is manifest in each real, situated

utterance.

The rise of a new environment - such as print-capitalism, the colonial

urban centre, or Usenet in its contemporary social context - necessarily alters the balance of these opposing forces, forcing them

to operate in different ways. Thus we can say that colonialism,

together with its associated transport and communications

technologies, exerted powerful centripetal effects on society in what

became Nigeria. Nnoli describes the boom in physical infrastructure

created by the British in the inter-war period, with rail lines spreading

throughout the country. "Meanwhile, district commissioners

constructed every type of road . . . Telegraph and postal services were

added to these activities and infrastructure. By 1913 deep water

berths had been opened in Lagos ... One common feature

characterised this web of communications. Their respective paths all

ran from the enclaves of colonial production, distribution and

exchange to the ships that would carry the colony's produce to the

advanced capitalist countries." (Nnoli 1978:45). These colonial

enclaves were "the peripheral nerve centres of imperialism. They

formed the relay centres [of] monopoly capital" (Nnoli 1978:43).

Nnoli demonstrates here that the Empire literally provided an

economic centre, towards which centripetal forces could operate.

English, as unitary national print-language, now became an imperial

one: a linguistic and ideological centre, with print (and emergent

secondary orality technologies like radio) intensifying these forces

further.

All the while, of course, other forces exert their own centrifugal

pressures. The penetration of imperial language, culture and trade

did not proceed evenly or completely. The Empire contained its own

internal contradictions; as Nnoli notes, strategies such as indirect rule

acted to discourage the development of a united Nigerian nation

(1980:112-3). English was not spoken by all, though it became a

lingua franca of the elite (Afolayan in Beckett and Young 1997:48-9).

Early novelists such as Tutuola even exerted a heteroglossic pull on

the English print language itself, with works such as the idiolectic

Palm Wine Drinkard.. . (1 952). Yet this confluence of powerful social

forces, language, communications technologies, and religion, were

drawn together around a cultural and economic centre which

undoubtedly marked a strengthening of centripetal forces over the

area now called Nigeria.

Centripetal forces are also in operation on Usenet: the provision of

ever-broader connectivity to one network draws all participants into

potential interaction. The creation of this network from common

protocols (TCPIIP, and in the case of Usenet, NNTP) could

meaningfully be likened to the spread of a unified "language-field",

like the language-fields of national print-languages, described by

Anderson (Anderson 1991 :44; cf. Ong 1982:107). These fields of

communicative possibility are even broader, global rather than

national in scope. Furthermore, the existence of objective archives of

all that passes through the nehrvork gives scope to ground debates in

reference to what has gone before, potentially providing continuity

and a measure of solidity to discourse on Usenet.

However, all of the possibilities for broader, more coherent

communication offered by the lnternet must contend with the powerful

centrifugal tendencies it also exerts. As we saw in Chapter 2, the

structures of the lnternet in general, and Usenet in particular, were

deliberately designed to be centre-less: rhizomic in character,

horizontally organised and not hierarchically dependent on any

particular part. We examined in Chapter 3 how the undermining of the

fixity of print, associated with the sort of "written speech" which is

found on Usenet, further acts to encourage heteroglossia and

stratification of language. This is Bakhtinian heteroglossia in the

truest sense, beyond simply the multilingualism of the Nigerian nation

where Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, English and the rest coexist. Discourse

in soc.culture.nigeria is multi-generic and intertextual; it combines and

synthesises different languages from within and outside "Nigerian"

discursive space in a way reminiscent of Bakhtin's "languages that

are socio-ideological: languages of social groups, 'professional' and

'generic' languages ... the fleeting language of a day ..." (Bakhtin

1981 :272).25

Examples proliferate across the newsgroup, such as this mix of Igbo, Internet jargon

and a technical-colloquial English: "I biakwa ;) I have just DEL-ed hundreds of mails,

ready to ship out-and there you are.'

These centrifugal forces are so strong in Usenet that on many

occasions, even a minimum level of intersubjective comprehension

between participants is scarcely reached. This stands in contrast to

the "maximum of mutual understanding" that flows from the

Bakhtinian conception of the ideal unitary language as "ideologically

saturated, language as a world view" (Bakhtin 1980:271). For

instance, an African-American writer following the group mistakes

Pidgin for Igbo, noting Igbo's (almost non-existent) similarity to

"Jamaican patois";26 the actions of a Nigerian in Britain seeking a

skin-lightening cream she used to buy in Lagos are incomprehensible

to those whose African identity means "Black is Beautiful".

Authorship of particular texts is frequently mis-attributed, periodically

leading to fierce arguments over statements that no-one on

soc.culture.nigeria actually made. These are extreme examples, but

serve to demonstrate how strong are the centrifugal forces the

Usenet environment exerts on communication, pulling dialogue apart

to incoherence.

For these reasons, the kinds of identity change brought about by the

emergence of social settings like Usenet are less likely to be directly

observable as coherent social movements than those engendered by

-

28Possible deep linguistic connections between Jamaican creole and lgbo language

have in fact been discussed elsewhere on the group; but not the connectron mrstakenly

perceived by this particular writer.

Nnoli's colonial urbanisation. Changes to infrastructure and

communication methods occurred in both contexts, yet the Usenet

example lacks an equivalent of the British Empire, which acted as an

economic and cultural centre. It is also essential to keep in

perspective the relative importance in people's lives of the two

transformations. The ability to maintain links with distant friends and

events is of great importance and value to those Nigerians who were

largely already living and working internationally, but the newly

arrived rural migrant's immersion in a colonial city is surely a more

immediate, inescapable and profound experience. In and of itself, the

Usenet is an interesting and genuinely novel social phenomenon

worthy of study, but its scope is limited to being a part of people's

lives, rather than shaping them.

The enduring effects of the Internet stem from the fact that the

network does not exist "in and of itself'. As this dissertation has

emphasised, soc.cultum.nigeria is connected both intertextually with

other forms of media, and socially with other international Nigerian

networks. These connections ground the exchanges in

soc.cultum.nigeria, counteracting to some degree the centrifugal

pressures on dialogue. They also extend the influence of the

medium, including its consequences for identity, well beyond the

small group of its immediate users (as the return of the urban

migrants to the village carried news and impressions from the "cradle

of ethnicity" outside the city limits) (Nnoli 1980:39). Such connections

are not incidental to soc.cultum.nigeria, but have been fundamental

to its development, as we will now recap.

lntertextuality has been central to the Nigerian diasporic Internet

presence since, as Bastian records, Noble 'Baba' Ekajeh first began

emailing friends with forwarded news reports concerning Nigeria, in

1991 (Bastian 1996:5). Interconnections of this sort are facilitated by

the way Usenet has developed within the wider Internet, where the

common TCPIIP protocol encourages the proliferation of gateways

between its various media. Moreover, soc.culture.nigeria in particular

does not stand apart from wider social networks. The Nigerian

diasporic elite has conducted its social, political and economic

business via transnational networks developed over at least the last

fifty years (e.g. Nnoli 1978:140; Jerrome 1978). Even in the

development of the orthography of the lgbo language itself,

consideration has been given to these communication networks since

the 1970s: could messages be sent in lgbo by teleprinter? (Afigbo

1980:370) The interconnections between these communication

networks, electronic or otherwise, permit the broad influence of the

economic and social centres of attraction around which the networks

are shaped. These centres provide the nucleii of common discourses,

languages and - key to the focus of this dissertation - common

identities.

These discursive 'nucleii', centres of identification, include many

social institutions: religions such as Christianity and Islam, political

parties, the United States university system. Perhaps the most

powerful such centre, with the most persistent and far-reaching

effects for the people involved with soc.culture.nigeria, however, is

the Nigerian federal state itself. Its actions, legislation, and

appointments have profound effects on the social networks engaged

with the newsgroup. Even where ethnonationalist sentiments are

preferred to Nigerian nationalism, the social reality of a federal state

forces such groupings to engage with it, and also with the other

groups that share its boundaries. Though the Nigerian state is only

one of these centres of identification, it is perhaps the single most

powerful acting on soc.cu/fure.nigeria.

In conclusion, this study of soc.culture.nigeria has aimed to

demonstrate firstly that social setting is of key importance to the

expression of identity, as the audience and the communicative means

at one's disposal naturally and necessarily shape the message that

can be conveyed. Inasmuch as soc.culture.nigeria is a new kind of

social setting which combines some properties of several different

older settings (such as the newspaper, the ethnic association, the

university), it is not surprising to find that identities are mobilised

accordingly. However, as Usenet has strong "centrifugal" tendencies,

and lacks the "closure" of print as a medium, the identity formations

and social groupings that emerge from such contact may be less

persistent and coherent than those groupings seen previously. To

counterbalance these forces, texts in soc.culture.nigeria rely on

intertextuality - dialogue with other forms of communication - to again

embed themselves in what Elizabeth Reid calls the "networks of

meaning in the wider community" (Reid in Jones 1995:183).

Economic and political entities such as the Nigerian state still play the

most significant role in the shaping of identity. However, over time

we can expect that these very institutions will be increasingly affected

by the kinds of alliances and forms of identity that emerge from

forums like soc.culture.nigeria.

On a final note, I wish to defend my use of the perspectives of

dialogism for this the study of Nigerian identities by considering

together ideas of both Bakhtin and Chinua Achebe. Firstly, dialogism

as a philosophical view stands opposed to monologism, the "denial of

equal rights of consciousness vis-A-vis truth" (Folch-Serra 1990:274).

Compare this stance to that outlined by Achebe in his essay "Chi in

lgbo Cosmology":

I am the Truth, the Way and the Life would be called blasphemous or s~mply

absurd for is it not well known that a man may worship Ogwugwu to perfection

and yet be killed by Udo?

(Achebe 197594)

Again, Bakhtin's translator, Michael Holquist, notes that:

Dialogism ... takes it for granted that nothing can be perceived except against

the perspective of something else: dialogism's master assumption is that there is

no figure without a ground.

(Holquist 1990:22)

And Achebe accords a "central place in lgbo thought" (ibid.) to the

notion that:

Wherever Something stands, something Else will stand beside it. Nothlng 1s

absolute.

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h t t ~ : / / ~ ~ ~ . a ~ c u s c . o r a l i c m c

Archives of soc.culture.nigeria at Deja.com:

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