Supervised by: Professor Phoebe Musandu, Georgetown University in Qatar. 

Background

Nollywood, Nigeria's movie industry, is the world's second-largest film industry by production volume, after Bollywood. Most of its viewers are women. Until very recently, watching Nollywood productions in many households was discouraged. Nollywood trends and viewership have now increased, thanks to streaming platforms such as Netflix. Recently, 'Y2K' Nollywood has created a distinct sense of nostalgia among Nigerians as they recall the past through pop culture, memes, beauty standards, and politics. Therefore, if this era of Nollywood never truly faded away but simply resurfaced, what impact did 'Y2K' Nollywood have on different aspects of Nigerian women’s lives, and how has it influenced their personal approaches to life? 

Outline

My research will take a deep dive into the early period of Nollywood between the 1990s and early 2000s by centering lived experiences through oral history. I will interview 12 Nigerian women who constitute a small sample of society to understand how Nollywood influenced their political, civic, and economic understanding of themselves, with special focus on prevalent themes such as beauty expectations, themes of the supernatural, and financial freedom. While general in scope, the questionnaires will be tailored to each interviewee. 

Impact

My overarching goal for this research is to study the diverse landscapes that define Nigerian social realities through the women who experienced such a pivotal, but often overlooked, period of media history that continues to shape biases and common perceptions in everyday life. Beyond the program requirements, I also hope this experience helps me better understand how people are shaped by the stories around them, as I work toward instituting a more humanistic approach to storytelling through the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics at Georgetown University in Qatar.