Dr. Paul Ugor

This book addresses the theme of youth as a representative conceptual/social formation and its textualization in some early Nollywood video films. Following emerging critical developments in new media studies that transcend textual reductionism, the author discusses the subject of youth in Nollywood films, both theoretically and empirically, using socio-economic analysis to supplement representational analysis. In order to adequately problematize the conjunction between social and economic power and the visual representation of youth-related themes in Nollywood videos, the author draws on both close reading and a political-economic approach, which allows for the historicization of visual representations. This kind of interdisciplinary method allows the author to apply concepts such as uncertainties, social struggles, risks, social aspiration, belonging, agency, and other such sociological concepts specific to youth studies in the analysis of Nollywood videos.