Conversations: Nigerian Political Cartoons
Jimga Jimoh Ganiyu
Visiting Scholar, Michigan State University
University of Lagos, Nigeria
Teju Olaniyan
Professor, African Languages & Literature and English
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Time and Location
12:00pm, 206 Ingraham Hall, 1155 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI
Description
This conversation is a wide-ranging look at Nigerian politics in the work of its cartoonists. It considers the oft-lamented disjunction between change desired and change gotten, and situates in that exploration the cartoonists’ portrayal of the infamous Boko Haram terrorist group. The conversation speculates on the possibilities and difficulties of intersecting satiric humor—cartoonists’ key tool—with subjects of violence and terrorism.
Bios
Ganiyu A. Jimoh (JIMGA) is a visiting scholar at the African Studies Center, Michigan State University (MSU). He lectures full time at the Department of Creative Arts, University of Lagos, Nigeria. An award-winning cartoonist and scholar of cartoons, he is currently a doctoral candidate in the same department focusing on African editorial cartooning and the representation of politics. Jimga has exhibited locally and internationally. His exhibition, “The Change We Need,” is currently running at MSU through October 30, 2015, with the accompanying exhibition book, The Change We Need (2015).
Tejumola Olaniyan is Louise Durham Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he is also chair of the Department of African Languages and Literature. He has published widely on African and African diaspora literary and cultural studies. He is currently at work on a book on the history of political cartooning in Africa; the accompanying online encyclopedia, already the most comprehensive on the web, is http://africacartoons.com/.