WhatsApp and Everyday Life in West Africa

Idayat Hassan is Director of the Centre for Democracy and Development, an Abuja based policy, advocacy and research organisation with a focus on deepening democracy and development in West Africa. Idayat is a lawyer and has held fellowships in universities across Europe and America. Her interests span democracy, peace and security, transitional justice, and ICT4D across West Africa and her analysis is regularly sought by the BBC, Bloomberg and Voice of America. Jamie Hitchen is an independent researcher who focuses on politics in the social media age in West Africa. He co-authored a chapter on the use of WhatsApp in Sierra Leone’s election to ‘Social Media and Politics in Africa’ (Zed Books) and has published research on Nigeria’s WhatsApp Politics in the Journal of Democracy. He was previously policy researcher at Africa Research Institute and his analysis has been sought by leading international publications including The Economist, Financial Times, BBC and The Guardian. He is an Honorary Research Fellow of the University of Birmingham, UK.

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INTRODUCTION: A NEW PLATFORM FOR OLD NETWORKS? WHATSAPP AND EVERYDAY LIFE IN WEST AFRICA
Idayat Hassan and Jamie Hitchen
CHAPTER 1: WhatsApp and Political Messaging at the Periphery: Insights from Northern Ghana
Gabrielle Lynch, Ghadafi Saibu and Elena Gadjanova
CHAPTER 2: WhatsApp, youth and politics in The Gambia: An analysis of ‘Democratic Gambia’
Sait Matty Jaw
CHAPTER 3: WhatsApp political campaigns in Nigeria
Nwachukwu Egbunike
CHAPTER 4: Tailored to fit? WhatsApp marketing in Nigeria’s fashion industry
Kolawole Talabi
CHAPTER 5: “The Forum”: A WhatsApp support group for health and social service providers during the Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon
Kamila Pacholek, Madalina Prostean, Sarah Burris, Lynn Cockburn, Julius Nganji, Anya Nadege, and Louis Mbibeh
CHAPTER 6: The dynamics of WhatsApp usage among elderly Nigerians
Temitayo Olofinlua
CHAPTER 7: New Media, Social Relationships and Communication Imperatives: A study of Christlove Fellowship Alumni WhatsApp groups
Feyisitan Ijimakinwa and Fortune Afatakpa
CHAPTER 8: Sharing the gospel: How Nigeria’s Catholic community is building a WhatsApp congregation
Patrick Egwu
CHAPTER 9: Amplifying female voices in northern Nigerian politics: The role of WhatsApp
Na’ima Hafiz Abubakar
CHAPTER 10: Reinventing the newspaper for the WhatsApp age
Simon Allison