Deborah Adesina
Star Power And Social Change - Exploring The Performance Of Celebrity Humanitarianism In Nigeria
Email Address
deborah.adesina@liverpool.ac.ukhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/deborah-adesina/
Supervisors
Primary Supervisor
Dr Sarah Thomas - Department of Communication and Media, University of Liverpool
Secondary Supervisor/s
Prof Ekaterina Balabanova - Department of Communication and
Media, University of Liverpool
Dr Richard Stupart - Department of Communication and Media,
University of Liverpool
Research Topic
Over 4,500 celebrities support charitable causes around the world (according to 'Look to the Stars' website, 2024), yet academic scholarship stubbornly continues to analyze celebrity activism almost exclusively through Western lenses. Thus, while celebrity humanitarianism is often concerned with the Global South, by and large it is empirically ignored as a producer of celebrity humanitarians - or as a site for localized celebrity intervention. Nigeria presents a compelling case to address this gap — as Africa's most populous country, its fourth-largest economy, home to two of the most influential cultural industries worldwide (Nollywood and Afrobeat), 37 million+ social media users, and as the location of multiple significant social crises.
Thus, using qualitative interviews with celebrities and critical discourse analysis of select text, this project undertakes a novel exploration of the ways in which celebrities engage with crises and uncertainties in Nigeria. The study not only fills a critical gap in existing literature, which is still predominantly focused on Western contexts; by adopting a mixed-method approach (especially direct interviews with celebrities), it also challenges and expands the methodology of the field.
By applying and critiquing western frameworks within this unique context, the study advances the decolonisation of knowledge and the dewesternisation of celebrity studies that is long overdue. It provides the first comprehensive examination of Nigerian celebrities' interventions in social issues, with implications for how this contests/confirms what we know about celebrity humanitarianism elsewhere.
Key Words
Celebrity Studies, Media and Communications, Humanitarianism, Nigeria, Discourse Analysis
Academic Achievements
2025 AHRC NorthWest Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership funding for Doctoral Studies
2023 University of East Anglia Changemakers Award - funding for social impact initiative
2022 MA in Media And International Development, University of East Anglia
Distinction. Dissertation 80% (A). Top 1% of Cohort
2021 Commonwealth Shared Fully Funded Scholarship for Masters Studies
2014 BA (Hons.) International Studies and Diplomacy, Benson Idahosa University
First Class Honours. Top 1%: Overall Best Student for the Department, Faculty and University
Teaching Experience
2016-2021: Worked as Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Benson Idahosa University, Department of International Studies and Diplomacy. Delivered weekly lectures across 4 modules to 1st and 2nd year UG students, led tutorials and assessment sessions, experience with marking, course advising and supervising UG research projects
Publications and Presentations
Adesina, D. and Girling, D. (2025) ‘Charity Representations of Distant Others: an analysis of UK charity visual communications in direct mail campaigns’. University of East Anglia, UK.
Adesina, D. (2024) 'Chess, Philanthropy and Social Media A Critical Analysis Of Technology For Social Justice In Nigeria.' Paper presented at COSFAN International Conference, Nigeria.
Girling, D. and Adesina, D. (2024) ‘Charity Representations of Distant Others: an analysis of charity advertising supporting international causes in UK national newspapers’. University of East Anglia, UK.
Adesina, D. (2022) 'Media Representation Of Women In Politics: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of Nollywood Films.' Paper presented at 6th African Women in Media Conference, Fez, Morocco.
Abu E. A. and Adesina D. (2017) ‘Pedagogy: Blending and Branding in the Humanities, in the Benson Idahosa University Journal of Education (BIUJE), 1(1), pp. 101-111.