Carnival, New Media, and the Performance of Self in the Age of Sexuality Discourse

Abstract

From the earliest of times, masking as revealed in carnivals had served as a means through which people expressed themselves overtly without moderation. Behind the veiled identity and freedom characteristic of carnival, individuals tend to be more relaxed to perform different identities, just the way one would in the privacy of one's cocoons. In this paper, attempts shall be made to deconstruct the activities inherent in the carnival and new media as a culmination of what the society frowns at but which, invariably, is what the "self" desires and ultimately performs especially in this age of sexuality discourse. Conclusions are drawn from the way people perform themselves behind such digital platforms as Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, BBM, WhatsApp, YouTube etc., owing largely to the explosion in Internet usage; as popular means of communication, less expensive as well as accessible to a large heterogeneous audience. As a result of the relative ease with which information is shared, cultural appropriations and expropriation play major roles as individuals are influenced by what they see on the social media platforms. The motivation of this paper is hinged on the premise of a society sandwiched between passivity in the erosion of value system and the thirst for postmodernist ideals of the contemporary times. Using Bakhtin's Carnival theory and performance analysis, the paper concludes that societies over the years have served as a moderator of life's idiosyncrasies and that carnival performance, which thrives on elaborate costuming and masking and the new media have, therefore, exposed our real selves as liberal, unhindered and carefree performers on the 'global space' of the social media. This freedom to express oneself behind the façade of the digital masks (new media), is a pointer that culture's fluidity, flexibility and permeability are occasioned by the changing times of the third millennium. This position presupposes a warm embrace with Western sexuality which negates Africanist ideals.