Surviving the Media UpsideDown: Remembering EndSARS

Full title: Remembering EndSARS: Digital Activism, Memory, and the Struggle for Justice in Nigeria with Silas Udenze What happens when a protest ends but its memories remain? Nigeria's EndSARS Activism and Implicit Collective Memory lays bare how young Nigerians used online and offline spaces to document, remember, and make sense of the 2020 EndSARS protest. The book explores how memories of police brutality and socio-political struggle persist beyond the streets and online platforms, challenging official narratives and shaping how a new generation understands justice, citizenship, and Nigeria’s political future. This talk considers what EndSARS reveals about the relationship between digital activism, memory, and the politics of remembering in contemporary times. LOCATED IN DANA PORTER LIBRARY ROOM 329 About the speaker: Silas Udenze (He/Him) is an interdisciplinary researcher whose work examines digital media, protest movements, collective memory, and African digital cultures. He studies how marginalized communities use media and cultural practices to challenge power, document political struggles, and preserve alternative histories. He has also researched WhatsApp socio-political mobilization, and the ways people, especially young adults, digital platforms, and related cultural practices shape public memory and sociopolitical engagement. His current postdoctoral project at the University of Toronto attempts to understand how online intergenerational conversations shape narratives and memories of the Nigeria-Biafra Civil War.