Protests and Polls: The Emotional Journey of Hope in Nigeria - From #EndSARS to the 2023 Elections and Aftermath.

This poster illustrates how the emotion of hope acts as the vehicle through which mass passions are carried and sustained across realms of contention – from movements to elections. Hope facilitates a departure from grievances of the present to the promise of the future, and elections provide the pathway to attaining this imagined future. However, in the context of contention, does hope exist independently, or is it fueled by a blend of emotions – fear, anger, disgust, despair?

Additionally, in the aftermath of elections [as avenues of hope], what becomes of the aspirations of previously hopeful activists, and how does this reinforce or undermine democratic fervency? The emotion of hope has rarely been applied to the study of social movement and election interrelations, as existing theorisations have only examined hope in one context, not both. Drawing on Nigeria’s journey between the 2020 #EndSARs protests, the 2023 general elections, and the aftermath of the 2023 elections, this poster visualises hope as vehicling emotional currents from protests to polls, from despair to renewed or even diminished engagement. It uses a combination of visual and textual artefacts (slogans, slangs, protest and election posters, and placards) to capture emotionalised rhythms embodied in visual and rhetorical aesthetics.