TY - JOUR TI - The cyber-framing of Nigerian nationhood DO - https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/T38G8KT7 PY - 2010 AB - Postings generated during 'natural' online interactions among geographically dispersed/ diasporic Nigerians contain ideas from different intellectual sources. A few of the ideas encapsulated within texts produced were brought to the fore, discussed, and analyzed. The consequent search for the presence of indigenous knowledge within the postings produced a promise not a substantial product that can be circulated within the discipline of new media studies. The chosen method of analysis subjected online conversations and reflections to close readings aimed at extracting contextual and inter-textual meanings. This study also expands on the fundamental question raised by Misty Bastian in relation to how absence of physical constraints (and potential violence) is reflected in nationalist discourse. I argued that freedom from physical constraints and potential violence has been replaced by norms, novelties of virtual spaces, dominance of Western paradigms and epistemological shackles imposed by technology now act as the barriers to nationalist cyber-discourse. Textual analysis reveals that Nigerians draw extensively from a broad spectrum of ideas, but most significantly from notions emanating from Europe and America. In addition, Western notions like nationalism, nationhood, and state can hardly be differentiated in the consciousness of some contributors. This study presents traces of hegemony of Western ideas in postings and conversations online. Nigeria's presence as a postcolonial nation (or nation space) is established online through various activities of citizens at home and in the diaspora. These communicative activities and political activism have led to a wide range of scholarly interrogations and interventions in media, communication and migration studies against the backdrop of globalization, democratization, and modernization theories. It has been amply documented that communication and social interaction produce ideas that can be evaluated along the lines of deliberative democracy. These approaches have produced outcomes without the benefit of the complex debates, dialogues, and disagreements that come with popular participation and creation of variegated knowledge by a collective. I conclude that the concept of nationhood is not fixed but it a symbolic construct that evolves through unstructured conversations, sharing, and intense debates. KW - Communication, Information and Library Studies KW - Information technology--Political aspects--Nigeria KW - Information technology--Social aspects--Nigeria KW - Information society LA - English ER -