Ethnic othering in Nigeria’s electoral discourse: the need for intercultural competence

ABSTRACT

This study examines online ethnic othering during Nigeria's 2023 general elections. The study employs a critical discourse analytic (CDA) framework and utilises a corpus of 7678 Facebook comments from Nigerians. The analysis reveals that individuals from the Yoruba ethnic group stereotype the Igbo people by questioning their legitimacy and voting rights as residents in Yoruba lands, especially Lagos. This stereotype is perpetuated through the legitimation strategy of historicising ethnic politics, which justifies ethnic prejudices. The study concludes with a call for intercultural competence, which is crucial in promoting respect for diversity, human rights, and inter-ethnic differences.

Nchọcha a lebara anya n'akpamoke agbụrụ e nwere na ntụli aka elu izugbe Naịjirịa e mere na 2023. Nchọcha a ji atụtụ CDA wee tụchaa ọdọokwu ederede Facebook dị 7678 si n'aka ndị Naịjirịa. Ntụcha gosiri na ndị Yoruba kpasara ndị Igbo oke site n'ịgbagha ikike ha nwere ịtụ vootu dịka ndị bi n'ala Yoruba, ọkachasị Lagos. E ji nrụtụ aka ihe mere n'oge ochie gbasara agbụrụ ndị ndọrọndọrọ ọchịchị kwado akpamoke agbụrụ. Na nchịkọta, nchọcha tụnyere alo ka e nwee mmata ụbara omenaala nke dị mkpa n'ịkwalite nsọpụrụ ndịmiche, ikikere mmadụ, na ndịiche dị n'etiti agbụrụ na ibe ya.

KEYWORDS:

• Critical discourse analysis
• electoral discourse
• ethnicity
• online othering
• social media

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sopuruchi Christian Aboh

Sopuruchi Christian Aboh is a PhD candidate of the Department of English and Communication, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and a member of the Research Centre for Professional Communication in English. His work spans (political) discourse analysis, multilingualism, language attitudes and stereotypes, and Igbo studies. His research has been published in Discourse & Society, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, and Lingua.

John Ganaah

John Ganaah is a PhD candidate at the Department of English and Communication, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He is also a member of the Research Centre for Professional Communication in English. His current research focuses on how sociopolitical actors represent themselves in their performance of politics, with a focus on the discursive practices and legitimation strategies used to validate these representations. His research interests include identity and discourse, intercultural communication and media studies, corpus-assisted discourse studies, critical discourse analysis, and language and politics.

Godswill Uchechukwu Chigbu

Godswill Uchechukwu Chigbu is a PhD student in the Department of English and Communication at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon. His research centres on Nigeria's colonial and post-colonial political discourses from the standpoints of cognitive and corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis. He also has an interest in ESL development in Nigeria. He is a member of many professional research bodies, including Research and Applying Metaphor (RaAM), the Research Centre for Professional Communication in English, and the Nigerian Pragmatics Association.