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A Thematic Analysis of Graffiti of Kwara State University Students |
Over a long period of time, graffiti have been viewed as a significant cultural phenomenon. This phenomenon is visible on almost every possible surface in schools, parks, universities, and public restrooms. The present work studies the thematic concerns of graffiti sourced from the campus of Kwara State University in Malete. The data were analyzed within the framework of Fairclough’s post-structuralist model of discourse analysis. The data, which were qualitatively analysed, were drawn from messages written on Kwara State University’s walls, particularly classrooms’, corridors’, toilets’ and hostels’ wall using random selection procedure. Data were qualitatively analysed. Findings revealed eleven major thematic concerns of these graffiti, namely, personal history, politics, imperative actions, business, request, personal feelings, love & relationship, personal philosophy, personal reflection, sport and personal judgement & sentiment. The students communicated through graffiti in the form of single words, phrases and sentences. Graffiti communicative strategies were identified as coinage, alphabetism, metaphor, pun, slang, code-mixing and pidgin subsumed under three major categories as morphological devices, rhetorical devices and sociolinguistic devices. The paper concludes that the present study is vital in understanding how graffiti culture is implemented within Kwara State University’s domain.
Key words: graffiti, thematic concerns, Kwara State University, communicate |
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