Abstract

This paper interrogates the issue of deviance and moral panics associated with popular music production in Nigeria. Relying on qualitative and netnographic data, the paper explores contested perspectives on the music of Naira Marley, which is generally laden with censured themes of vulgarity, substance abuse, and loose sexuality. Naira Marley’s music has generated much moral controversy in Nigeria owing mainly to media criticisms, which follow from the bizarre subcultural lifestyles of his fans (i.e., the deviant Marlians) that imitate and idolise him. Although a few texts on Naira Marley exist, none focus on deviance and moral panics. Following debates on and around social reactions to popular music’s subcultural morality, we discuss the politics of nonconformity and anti-establishmentarian music production in Nigeria and contend that while the moral judgement of Marley’s music content is relative, its deviant mannerism is structurally functional. In other words, the music creates moral panics and advocates social change because its seemingly deviant themes resonate with economically disadvantaged Nigerians who patronise it as a form of escapism.

摘要

本文探讨了与尼日利亚流行音乐制作相关的偏差和道德恐慌问题。本文依靠定性和网络统计数据，探讨了对奈拉·马利音乐的有争议的观点，奈拉·马利的音乐通常充满了粗俗、药物滥用和放荡性行为等受谴责的主题。奈拉·马利的音乐在尼日利亚引起了很多道德争议，这主要是由于媒体的批评，这些批评源于模仿和崇拜他的歌迷（即离经叛道的马利安人）奇异的亚文化生活方式。尽管存在一些关于奈拉·马利的文本，但没有一篇关注越轨行为和道德恐慌。在围绕流行音乐亚文化道德的社会反应展开辩论之后，我们讨论了尼日利亚的不合规政治和反建制音乐制作，并认为虽然对马利音乐内容的道德判断是相对的，但其异常的行为主义在结构上是功能性的。换句话说，这种音乐制造了道德恐慌并倡导社会变革，因为它看似离经叛道的主题与经济上处于不利地位的尼日利亚人产生了共鸣，他们将其视为逃避现实的一种形式。