Semiotic Analysis of Protest Cartoons in Selected Nigerian Newspapers

Abstract

Protest cartoons, as an artistic and journalistic form, offer powerful insights into the socio-political realities of Nigeria. Through humour, satire, and symbolism, they capture the frustrations of ordinary citizens, critique governance, and galvanise collective resistance. This paper investigates the semiotic resources of protest cartoons in selected Nigerian newspapers, focusing on how visual codes, compositional structures, and multimodal resources convey layered meanings within the country’s protest discourse. Drawing on Kress and Van Leeuwen's (2006) Social Semiotic Approach, the study interrogates the role of cartoons as both social commentary and instruments of resistance. Five protest cartoons were purposively selected from The Punch, Business Day, and Daily Trust newspapers between 2020 and 2024, covering the #EndSARS and #EndBadGovernance protests. Findings reveal that Nigerian protest cartoons utilise symbolic imagery, caricature, textual anchorage, spatial arrangement, and culturally grounded metaphors to articulate corruption, poor governance, economic hardship, and citizens’ resilience corruption, poor governance, economic hardship, and citizens’ resilience. By decoding these multimodal resources, the study situates cartoons as critical sites of protest in the media landscape, bridging elite discourse and popular struggles.