Culture, Identity and Transcultural Studies

Masquerades once performed in village squares now process through crowded city streets, filmed on dozens of phones. Drawing on fieldwork at festivals in Enugu and Nsukka, this article examines how urban audiences reshape masquerade performance, from route and timing to costume. It argues that the masquerade has adapted to the city by becoming a spectacle of circulation, both on the street and online.

A growing body of Nigerian fiction follows characters who return home after years abroad. This review reads five such novels published since 2009 and identifies the conventions of the ‘novel of return’: the airport arrival, the misrecognised accent and the family that has moved on. It argues that these novels use return to examine what the nation expects of its diaspora.

As European museums return looted Benin bronzes, the labels beside the objects have begun to change. This study compares labels from six museums before and after 2020, using critical discourse analysis to trace shifts in agency, voice and tense. It finds that while newer labels name the 1897 expedition as a looting, many still present the objects through the eyes of their collectors. The article suggests principles for co-authored labels.