In the last couple of days I have been combing through popular blogs and online forums in Nigeria in search of representations of dirt, and it has been quite an experience. It has been interesting to read the opinions of the average person on happenings in the society. I would like to share this striking comment;

Topic being discussed: Malawi Officially Suspends Anti-homosexuality Laws.

A participant’s response to another participant’s opinion:

“Your thought process is premised on a faulty data, so I can understand your limitations. Gay and Lesbian should never be left alone. They are dirt thus most be cleared. Nobody wants a dirty society? Would you be fine if you see your kids watching two male adult kissing on TV? Protect the society!”

During my search, I found out that topics like politics, skin bleaching, homosexuality, spirituality, Nollywood gay movies, illiteracy, other ethnic groups, scamming (advanced fee fraud), the bring-somebody-down syndrome have been described as dirty. These representations of dirt have been good starting points for discussions and in-depth interviews.

About the author: Olutoyosi is a project researcher on the DirtPol project and is our Lagos-based researcher looking at health and the environment.

About the project: DirtPol is an international cultural studies project based at the University of Sussex. For more information please visit the DirtPol website.