Cover not available
Article published In:
Journal of Language and Sexuality
Vol. 11:1 (2022) ► pp.80–100

The discursive construction of gay people in news reports of selected Nigerian newspapers

| University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Same-sex relationships have, over time, stirred serious debates worldwide. Studies on same-sex sexualities in the Nigerian context have focused on its representation in Nollywood movies and other arguments centred on ethics, culture and religion, with little attention paid to how queer people are framed by the Nigerian media. This study, therefore, explores agency and processes in the representation of gay people in news reports of selected Nigerian newspapers, in order to unearth how this social group is discursively constructed in the Nigerian context. Drawing on insights from Fairclough’s approach to critical discourse analysis and Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics, this study considers three popular Nigerian newspapers (Vanguard, Nigerian Tribune and The Punch) within three years (2013–2015, being the period of intense debate on the legalisation of the anti-gay bill in Nigeria). Results reveal that gay people are negatively evaluated as actors of negative material processes such as ‘murder’ and other violent actions, and goals of the actions of ‘arrests’ and ‘remands’, ideologically portraying them as criminals and dangerous. The study provides insight into the biased posturing of the Nigerian media on important social/national issues such as same-sex relationships.
Keywords: representation of gay persons, heteronormativity, ideologies, discourses on same-sex sexualities, homophobia in the Nigerian press
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Previous studies
  • 3.Theoretical framework
    • 3.1Fairclough’s model of CDA (Socio-semiotic approach)
    • 3.2Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL)
  • 4.Methodology
  • 5.Data analysis and discussion
    • 5.1Gay people as actors/violent criminals
    • 5.2Government/law enforcement agents as actors – gay people as goals/victims
    • 5.3Government/law enforcement agents as actors – Act of homosexuality as circumstance
    • 5.4Collective nouns as actors of violent acts against gay people
    • 5.5Passivisation: Gay people as victims (goals) in agentless material clauses
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • References
Published online: 11 February 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jls.19009.ade
References (60)
References
Abah, Adedayo. 2012. Mainstreaming homosexuality in Nollywood: The efforts and the challenges. ABC Journal of Advanced Research 1(2): 57–69. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Aina, Sina. 2002. Modern Media Management. Ibadan: Ebensum Publishers.Google Scholar
Akwagyiram, Alexis. 2020. A police raid, viral videos and the broken lives of Nigerian gay law suspects. Reuters. [URL] (February 24, 2020).
Asue, Daniel Ude. 2018. A catholic inclusive approach to homosexuality in Nigeria. Theology Today 74(4): 396–408. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Atoi, Ewere & Ojedokun, Usman. 2013. Same-sex relationship among tertiary institution students in Ibadan. Journal of Pan African Studies 5(10): 63–79.Google Scholar
Baker, Paul. 2005. Public Discourses of Gay Men. London: RoutledgeGoogle Scholar
Burdette, Amy, Ellison, Christopher & Hill, Terrence. 2005. Conservative Protestantism and tolerance toward homosexuals: An examination of potential mechanisms. Sociological Inquiry 75(2): 177–96. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cameron-Ellis, Jean A. 1999. Church and Homosexuality: The Relationship between Individual Religious Beliefs, Attitudes and the Quality of Contact. PhD dissertation, University of Pretoria.
Epprecht, Marc & Egya, Sule. 2011. Teaching about homosexualities to Nigerian university students: A report from the field. Gender and Education 23(10): 367–383. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fadairo, Olusola, Fadairo, Anjolaoluwa & Aminu, Olufunmilayo. 2014. Coverage of corruption news by major newspapers in Nigeria. New Media and Mass Communication 241: 53–59.Google Scholar
Fairclough, Norman. 1989. Language and Power. London: Longman.Google Scholar
. 2003. Analysing Discourse: Textual Analysis for Social Research. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fone, Byrne. 2000. Homophobia: A History. New York: Picador.Google Scholar
Fowler, Roger, Hodge, Bob, Kress, Gunther & Trew, Tony. 1979. Language and Control. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Gaudio, Rudolf P. 2014. Acting like women, acted upon: Gender and agency in Hausa sexual narratives. In Queer Excursions: Retheorizing Binaries in Language, Gender, and Sexuality, Lal Zimman, Jenny L. Davis & Joshua Raclaw (eds), 170–194. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Giwa, Sulaimon, Abiodun, Logie, Carmen, Karki, Karun, K., Makanjuola, Olumide F. & Obiagwu, Chinonye Edmund. 2020. Police violence targeting LGBTIQ+ people in Nigeria: Advancing solutions for a 21st century challenge. Greenwich Social Work Review 1(1): 36–49. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Halliday, Michael A. K. 1984. Language as code and language as behaviour: A systemic functional interpretation of the nature and ontogenesis of dialogue. In The Semiotics of Culture and Language. Volume 1: Language as Social Semiotic, Robin Fawcett, Michael A. K. Halliday, Lamb Sydney & Makkai Adam (eds), 3–35. Pinter: London.Google Scholar
1994. An Introduction to Functional Grammar (Second Edition). London: Edward Arnold.Google Scholar
Halliday, Michael A. K. & Matthiessen, Christian M. I. M. 2004. An Introduction to Functional Grammar. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Harris, Randy Allen. 1993. The Linguistics War. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Human Rights Watch. 2016. Tell me where I can be safe: The impact of Nigeria’s same-sex marriage (Prohibition) Act. [URL] (17 January, 2019).
Jibo, Mvendaga & Okoosi-Simbine, Antonia. 2003. The Nigerian media: An assessment of its role in achieving transparent and accountable government in the fourth republic. Nordic Journal of African Studies 12(2): 180–195.Google Scholar
Jørgensen, Marianne W. & Philips, Louise M. 2000. Discourse Analysis as Theory and Method. Lund: Student Literature.Google Scholar
Leap, William. 2010. Homophobia as moral geography. Gender and Language 4(2): 187–220.Google Scholar
. 2012. Queer linguistics, sexuality and discourse analysis. In The Routledge Handbook of Discourse Analysis, James Paul Gee & Michael Handford (eds), 558–571. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
. 2015. Queer linguistics as critical discourse analysis. In The Handbook of Discourse Analysis, Deborah Tannen, Heidi E. Hamilton & Deborah Schiffrin (eds), 661–680. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Lillian, Donna. 2005. Homophobic discourse: A popular Canadian example. SKY Journal of Linguistics 181: 119–144.Google Scholar
Lyonga, Frida Imbolo. 2014. Un-African? Representations of homosexuality in two contemporary Nigerian films. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science 4(8): 97–103.Google Scholar
Mapayi, Boladale M., Oginni, Olaleye, Akinsulore, Adesanmi & Aloba, Olutayo O. 2016. Homophobia and perceptions about homosexuality among students of a tertiary institution in Nigeria. Gender and Behaviour 14(30): 7624–7637.Google Scholar
McKay, Jenny. 2006. The Magazines Handbook (2nd edition). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
McKay, Tara & Angotti, Nicole. 2016. Ready rhetorics: Political homophobia and activist discourses in Malawi, Nigeria, and Uganda. Qualitative Sociology 39(4): 397–420. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McQuail, Denis. 2005. McQuail’s Mass Communication Theory. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Mongie, Lauren. 2016. Critical discourse analysis as queer linguistics: Religious pro- and anti-LGBT equality framing and counterframing in two letters to the editor in the City Press. Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus 491: 23–43. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Motschenbacher, Heiko. 2011. Taking Queer Linguistics further: Sociolinguistics and critical heteronormativity research. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 2121: 149–179. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2014. Focusing on normativity in language and sexuality studies: Insights from conversations on objectophilia. Critical Discourse Studies 11(1): 49–70. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2021. Language and sexuality studies today: Why “homosexual” is a bad word and why “queer linguist” is not an identity. Journal of Language and Sexuality 10(1): 25–36. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Murdock, Heather. 2012. Nigeria: Where being openly gay comes at a steep price. [URL] (November 16, 2019).
Obidimma, Emmanuel & Obidimma, Angela. 2013. The travails of same-sex marriage relation under Nigerian law. Journal of Law, Policy and Globalization 171: 42–49.Google Scholar
Okanlawon, Kehinde. 2017. Homophobic bullying in Nigerian schools: The experiences of LGBT university students. Journal of LGBT Youth 14(1): 51–70. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Olson, Laura R., Wendy, Cadge & James, T. Harrison. 2006. Religion and public opinion about same-sex marriage. Social Science Quarterly 87(2): 340–360. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Onanuga, Paul & Alade, Blessing. 2020. Ideological portrayal and perceptions of homosexuality in selected Nollywood movies. Quarterly Review of Film and Video 371: 1–32. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Onuche, Joseph. 2013. Same-sex marriage in Nigeria: A philosophical analysis. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science 3(12): 91–98.Google Scholar
Oso, Lai. 2013. Media and democracy in Nigeria: A critique of liberal perspective. New Media and Mass Communication 101: 13–22.Google Scholar
Peterson, David. 2010. “The basis for a free, just and stable society”: Institutional homophobia and governance at the Family Research Council. Gender and Language 4(2): 257–286.Google Scholar
. 2011. Neoliberal homophobic discourse: Heteronormative human capital and the exclusion of queer citizens. Journal of Homosexuality 581: 742–757. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2016. Homophobic grammar: The role of transitivity and phoricity in homophobic formation. Journal of Language and Sexuality 51: 61–93. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pew Research Centre. 2020. The global divide on homosexuality persists. [URL] (June 25, 2020).
Roggemans, Lilith, Spruyt, Bram, van Droogenbroeck, Filip & Keppens, Gil. 2015. Religion and negative attitudes towards homosexuals: An analysis of urban young people and their attitudes towards homosexuality. YOUNG 23(3): 254–276. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Russell, Eric. 2019. The Discursive Ecology of Homophobia: Unravelling Anti-LGBTQ Speech on the European Far Right. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sherkat, Darren E., Powell-Williams, Melissa, Maddox, Gregory & Mattias de Vries, Kylan. 2011. Religion, politics, and support for same-sex marriage in the United States, 1988–2008. Social Science Research 40(1): 167–180. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tuntiya, N. 2005. Fundamentalist religious affiliation and support for civil liberties: A critical reevaluation. Sociological Inquiry 75(2): 153–176. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Turner, Georgina, Mills, Sara, van der Bom, Isabelle, Coffey-Glover, Laura, Paterson, Laura & Jones, Lucy. 2018. Opposition as victimhood in newspaper debates about same-sex marriage. Discourse and Society 29(2): 180–197. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ukah, Asonzeh. 2018. Pentecostal apocalypticism: Hate speech, contested citizenship, and religious discourses on same-sex relations in Nigeria. Citizenship Studies 22(6): 633–649. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
van Dijk, Teun. 1991. Racism and the Press. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
van Leeuwen, Theo. 1996. The representation of social actors. In Text and Practices: Readings in Critical Discourse Analysis, Carmen Rosa Caldas-Coulthard & Malcolm Coulthard (eds), 32–70. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Weiss, Gilbert & Wodak, Ruth. 2003. Introduction: Theory, interdisciplinarity and critical discourse analysis. In Critical Discourse Analysis: Theory and Interdisciplinarity. Gilbert Weiss & Ruth Wodak (eds), 1–32. London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
White, Chrishana Melissa. 2013. Human rights and the impact of criminalization: Legalizing homophobia in Jamaica, Nigeria, and Uganda. Law School Student Scholarship 3251. [URL] (November, 12, 2020).
Whitehead, Andrew L. 2010. Sacred rites and civil rights: Religion’s effect on attitudes toward same-sex unions and the perceived cause of homosexuality. Social Science Quarterly 91(1): 63–79. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wilcox, Clyde & Robin, Wolpert. 2000. Gay rights in the public sphere: Public opinion on gay and lesbian equality. In The Politics of Gay Rights, Craig A. Rimmerman, Kenneth D. Wald & Clyde Wilcox (eds), 409–432. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Wood, Peter B. & Bartkowski, John P. 2004. Attribution style and public policy attitudes toward gay rights. Social Science Quarterly 85(1): 58–74. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by (6)

Cited by six other publications

Akinola, Adekunle
2024. Scrutinizing Cultural, Religious, and Legal Challenges Impacting LGBTQ Advocacy in Nigeria, and Unearthing the Multifaceted Difficulties Faced in Achieving Social Inclusion. SSRN Electronic Journal DOI logo
Ayodele Onanuga, Paul
2023. Weaponising Digital Architecture: Queer Nigerian Instagram Users and Digital Visual Activism. In LGBT+ Communities - Creating Spaces of Identity, DOI logo
Funmi Oyebanji, Olubunmi
2023. We Are Humans: Discourse Representations of Identities in the Tweets of Nigerian LGBT People. In LGBT+ Communities - Creating Spaces of Identity, DOI logo
Jones, Lucy
2023. Language, gender and sexuality in 2022. Gender and Language 17:2 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Zhang, Ke & Huibin Zhuang
2023. Visual Representations of Sexual Minorities in Chinese Newspapers. Journal of Asian and African Studies DOI logo
Zhang, Ke, Huibin Zhuang, Chao Lu & Jingyuan Zhang
2023. Discursive representations of sexual minorities in China’s English-language news media: a corpus-based study. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 10:1 DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 14 september 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.