Abstract
In a globalised world, countries and cities are in a constant and ever-evolving competition for social, economic and political power. Place-branding strategies offer administrators an avenue to influence and direct how their spaces are perceived, experienced and remembered. Although this practice is relatively well established in wealthier spaces in the Global North, there are deficits in the understanding of its deployment on the African continent. In the light of the poverty of such studies to date, this thesis explores place branding in Lagos, Nigeria, examining the State government’s attempts to position the city as a modern, cosmopolitan and inclusive space.
The study includes analysis of six case studies, including the Lagos state coat of arms, the Eko 2012 National Sports campaign, the 2014 Spirit of Lagos campaign, the 2017 and 2018 Lagos City Marathon campaigns and the Lagos@50 campaign. In engaging with the materials related to them, the study includes the identification of historical, cultural and architectural assets that have been co-opted as visual signifiers for the city. It is demonstrated that the unexamined histories of these signifiers complicate, and in some cases paradoxically nullify, the impressions they were intended to create. Moreover, it is revealed how changes in context lead to shifts in meaning, highlighting how the signifiers can be reread within a place-branding framework.
In revealing how the specificities of a post-colonial African space can impact place-branding practices, it is shown that there is a necessity to reckon with complicated legacies of a history marred by patriarchal elitism, oppression and corruption, as well as their sustained injustices in contemporary Lagos. Moreover, this study shows that place branding cannot compensate for administrative incompetence and deficiencies. Instead, it plays a supporting role in refining narratives culled from realities that already exist.