Performing Nigerianness: Equivocal Identities and Digital Legibility of White Women Comedians

Sabina Yuhas (@Overszabi) and Juliana Belova (@juliewanderz or Oyibo Marlian) are Hungarian and Russian women, respectively, who are fascinated by Nigerian popular culture. Despite their successes in exploiting Black culture to attain wealth and fame in the Nigerian mediasphere, their works have har...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:African studies review 2024-06, Vol.67 (2), p.351-371
Main Author: Amaefula, Rowland Chukwuemeka
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Black culture
Colonialism
Comedians
Commodification
Fame
Females
Humor
Identity
Influencer marketing
Legibility
Otherness
Popular culture
Popularity
Race
Racial identity
Skin
Social networks
Wealth
Women
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Summary:Sabina Yuhas (@Overszabi) and Juliana Belova (@juliewanderz or Oyibo Marlian) are Hungarian and Russian women, respectively, who are fascinated by Nigerian popular culture. Despite their successes in exploiting Black culture to attain wealth and fame in the Nigerian mediasphere, their works have hardly been studied. Close readings and nuanced analyses of their selected TikTok skits show a multiplicity of images that are neither fully European nor Nigerian—equivocal identities—mediating Otherness. However, the longstanding power asymmetries between Africa and Europe characterize their enactments as commodification of Blackness, accounting for why Nigerians who perform “Europeanness” do not attain corresponding success.
ISSN:0002-0206
1555-2462
DOI:10.1017/asr.2024.47