Representing Trump and Trumpism Through Caricature: A Semiotic Analysis of Selected Editorial Cartoons Published in Nasoweseeam

Introduction

Like in many other countries of the world, American politics has persistently fueled the socio-political discourse and has inspired various aspects of popular culture in Nigeria. Indeed, major political events in America notably the U.S. Presidential elections, U.S. foreign policy, U.S. military involvement in specific regions of the world and even America’s domestic policies among other things, have often had the effect of influencing socio-political discourse in Nigeria, especially when such domestic or foreign policies have serious potential to affect the lives of Nigerian nationals or immigrants in the U.S. One remembers how issues such as Obama’s elections in 2008 (as the first Black U.S. President) as well as America’s legalization of homosexuality and her resolve to make gay rights advocacy a major feature of her foreign policy in Nigeria in 2015 variously fuelled debates in almost all quarters of the Nigerian society, thereby becoming the talk of the town. Page (2017) has for instance noted how Obama’s 2008 rise to the American Presidency was greeted with widespread euphoria in Nigeria; while Adaobi (2015) lamented how America’s legalization of homosexuality inspired widespread fears and resentments of the U.S. foreign policy in Nigeria. Such fear and resentments were mainly expressed through both traditional media and social media platforms. Adaobi actually noted that:

In line with this tradition of developing a strong interest in anything American, the recent rise of trumpism in the U.S. has progressively and remarkably become a serious topic for socio-political discourse in Nigeria. Simply defined as the outrageous and controversial statements made by Donald Trump as well as the American-centric policies advocated for by the Trump administration, trumpism has since the year 2016 implicitly or tacitly inspired political and media discourse in Nigeria. Some of the popular ways in which Nigerian media houses and politicians have chosen to discuss this political current have been editorials, gossip and opinion columns and more especially political cartooning. In effect, as an instrument par excellence of political mobilization and discourse, cartooning in particular has been one of the premier ways of critiquing/criticizing Trump’s policies and representing contemporary American politics in particular and America as whole, in Nigerian newspapers.

Critiquing trumpism through cartooning has often implied or warranted the use of relevant visual and linguistic techniques as well as the necessity (for Nigerian cartoonists) to tap into local Nigerian myths (the Nigerian collective memory and popular imaginary). Such act of tapping into the Nigerian popular imaginary in particular has most often contributed in giving a Nigerian coloration to Nigerian cartoonists’ discussions and representations of America and Trump, a coloration which in turn has meant that audiences should “imperatively” or ideally consider local idiosyncrasies in their exegesis of those cartoons on trumpism. Although remarkable and popular, this original and Nigerianized way of discussing American politics has not attracted serious scholarly attention from both endogenous (Nigerian) and exogenous (non-Nigerian) critics and researchers. The bulk of studies on media coverage of trumpism or American politics has predominantly been devoted to traditional media (TV, radio, magazine and newspapers) reporting of America. Thus, there appears to be a serious need for researchers to focus on this unexplored aspect of Nigerian media coverage and representation of the policies adopted - or to be adopted - by the Trump administration. This chapter attempts to fill the apparent gap of knowledge implied above, through a semiotic analysis of selected editorial cartoons penned by Boglo G. and published in an online Nigerian magazine (Nasoweseeam) to criticize Trump’s policies or presidency.