91丝瓜视频
Urban Youth, New Aesthetic Formations and Insurgent Imagination in Nigeria聽
Institute of African and Diaspora Studies, University of Lagos聽
脕脿y猫 odo (translated, loosely, as space(s) of youth) is a critical and creative collective that engages with urban youth in Nigeria, broadly conceived, and chiefly foregrounds issues related to gender.听听
Until now, much of the focus on Nigerian youth has reflected a male-bias 鈥� our group privileges the voices and experiences of young women and other non-cis gendered individuals. Although young women in Nigeria are often expected to marry and reproduce, they have recently featured more prominently in youth culture and in protests against police brutality #Endsars. Similarly, since the 2014 Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act (SSMPA), young queer individuals have worked to challenge social stigma and create safe spaces through music, fashion, sports, etc.聽 However, as the name A脿y猫 implies 鈥� a Yoruba word that doubly means space or gap (vacuum) 鈥� it welcomes all youth who feel they 鈥渇all through the cracks鈥� or who feel alienated by the system but are energized and mobilized by our projects.听听
Under the direction of Paul Ugor, a Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Waterloo, the 脕脿y猫 odo lab was established in 2024 and includes the following members: Dr Magdeline Hron, Department of English, Wilfried Laurier University; Tito Kolowale, Institute of African Studies, University of Lagos; and Diekara Oloruntoba-Oju, Harvard University. The lab supports the research programs of several scholars including senor academics, postdoctoral fellows, independent scholars, graduate students (Masters and PhD), artists, and undergraduate student interns.听听
Figure 1: Hagey Hall, Home of Aaye odo at the University of Waterloo聽
脕脿y猫 odo primarily focuses on art-based engagement with social issues pertaining to Lagosian youth, and draws on collaborative, affective, feminist, youth-led, girl-led, queer activist and creative methodologies.聽 While our chief involvement relates to gender, we are also interested in other areas of concern for Nigerian youth, namely a) art as protest; b) religious/spiritual involvement and influences on youth, art and music; c) economic inequalities; and d) spatial justice and inequalities in a city as dense as Lagos.听听
As far as art-engagement is concerned, popular music, especially Afrobeats, has been touted as a marker of youth creativity, expression and resistance in Nigeria. However, popular music is often highly commercialized and skews towards male youth. While we do not dismiss the Afrobeats phenomenon, we also wish to engage with other forms of artistic expression that have received less attention: literature, photography, drawing, indigenous music, map making, alternative music and fashion, etc. We are not merely looking at art for its own sake but as a praxis of value transformation.听听
Some examples of the groups we are working with and/or hope to work with in the future include: Olorunjedalo鈥檚 Aaye, a percussion ensemble that draws on drumming as a community building activity for youth in volatile and precarious situations; , a studio for podcasters, creatives, youtubers that frequently hosts musicians and offers free podcasting programs for emerging audio youth creators; , a curatorial space that often features queer-affirmative performances and installations, a curatorial project on the theme of 鈥渃oming-of-age鈥�; . an NGO fosters youth engagement and queer belonging with creative, material, and conceptual spaces; , a network of independent animation studios that includes communities such as 鈥楢fro-Geek鈥� or events such as 鈥榓nime nights;鈥� NYSC Writer鈥檚 Club, a weekly creative writing group for youth service corps members who publish short stories, or , a skater community for young women, largely composed of queer-identifying women.听听
Over the next three years, we plan to engage in the following projects: 1) hosting an international conference on youth art-engagement which will feature presentations by academics, artists and youth groups;聽 2) organizing a photo-sound-text exhibition collated from different artists鈥� praxes, working with the curators who work on issues; 3) putting together an African drums performance or workshop; 4) facilitating a roundtable discussion involving different practitioners (leaders at hFactor, Cliqast, Animate Africa) focusing on the role of art-based engagement in youth expression and gender transformation in Nigeria. These events will be jointly hosted by the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Waterloo and the Institute of African and Diaspora Studies (IADS) at the University of Lagos.听听
