In Citizenship and the Diaspora in the Digital Age: Farooq Kperogi and the Virtual Community, Toyin Falola examines how the members of the Nigerian diaspora create a virtual community and instrumentalize the digital age to speak about the nation and its failures, possibilities, and promises. This book depicts individuals' relationships with society and how the world's progressive shift toward technology and globalization does not disregard the concept of society and its members. As a result of this shift, people have been migrating to new places without giving up their citizenship in their home countries. This book explores how migrants are focused on the idea of a virtual community, examines how citizens' roles have evolved through time, and displays society's essential principles in this light. Furthermore, it evaluates social commentaries enhanced by the dynamics of the digital age, such as societal issues like education in Nigeria, the question of democracy, challenges facing the country, and the development of a national language. Many of these societal challenges are examined in this book from the perspective of Farooq Kperogi, who has conducted extensive studies and published on the above themes. This is balanced against emerging facts, Nigerians' positions, and disregarded realities. Kperogi's relentless writings on Nigeria make him a preeminent figure whose positions are valuable to the understanding of modern Nigeria.
Toyin Falola is professor at the University of Texas at Austin.
Preface Acknowledgments Prologue Introduction Part A: Context And Culture Chapter 1: Building an Online Audience Chapter 2: Philosophical Foundations Chapter 3: Black Cultures Part B: Critical Issues Chapter 4: The Decay of Pre-Tertiary Education Chapter 5: ASUU and the Decay in Tertiary Education Chapter 6: Comparing Higher Education in Nigeria and America Chapter 7: Politicizing English: Media Communications in A Democracy Chapter 8: The English of The Nation Chapter 9: Comparative "Englishes" Chapter 10: Societal Decadence Chapter 11: A Nation on The Boil Part C: Conclusion Chapter 12: Assessment, Expansion and Evaluation Bibliography About the Author
This is truly a book social media enthusiasts, social commentators and critics can relate to. It talks about the ingredients for building an online audience and also exposes discussions of the socio-cultural and political situations of the country from a digital vantage point. Deeply enchanting and irresistibly compelling, this book is an extraordinary story that will stay with you long after you have turned the final page because it is educative and informative. -- Babajide Kolade-Otitoju, Journalist, Political and Security Affairs analyst, Lagos, Nigeria Language is at the heart of some of the most contentious realities of our time from information technology to restrictions on speech, from disinformation on social media to opinions as facts and deepening polarization. Falola's Citizenship and the Diaspora in the Digital Age could not have been better timed to help us interrogate how and what we engage on in social media and everyday speech as we struggle for new ways of being and governing in Nigeria. A potent reminder that language is not static and of Ngugi wa Thiongo's advise that we "Use English instead of English using us." -- Ayisha Osori, author of Love Does Not Win Elections and Director, EVPO, Open Society Foundation This is a book of context and culture, considering Nigerian citizens and the diaspora holistically in the digital age. With the much engagement on blog sites by individuals and socio-political commentators, cultural explanations drawn from interactions with hybrid cultures makes room for critical and comparative analysis across Nigeria's academic, political and social landscapes. Farooq Kperogi's socio-political critiques and comments are engaged here to explore how virtual interactions between Nigeria and Diaspora have evolved in the recent past. How feasible is virtual nation-building? Can state-sponsored and state-supported virtual communities breed a more cohesive Nigeria? Here is a must read! -- Sharon Omotoso, University of Ibadan
