Nollywood Afrogeeks: Nigerian Cinema, Digital Diasporas, and African Immigrants in the United States

Abstract

Viewing Nigerian film, known as Nollywood, in online platforms provides African immigrants living in the United States with digital spaces to engage with the African continent through films with relatable Pan-African themes. Nollywood on social media sites YouTube and subscription services IrokoTV, Amazon, and Netflix marks the Nigerian film industry as a transnational participatory movement that enables immigrants to use the technology at their disposal to watch and comment on films, connect with their cultural values, and become a part of a global digital community of dispersed Africans and African descended populations. Thus, immigrants become a part of a Nollywood focused digital diaspora, a cultural space that illuminated the plurality immigrants negotiate on and off the continent.