I can trace the kernel of this chapter to February last year when I was asked this question by The Republic for their First Draft series: “The bulk of your work (as a writer, researcher, and visual artist) explores how Africans are making a living. Why is this important to you?” 

And I replied: “It is important because life can be very hard and a lot of us get really tired. I’d like for us to be less tired, or at least for us to not have to work through exhaustion and onslaughts against our nervous systems. But we often have to work through all of those because we lack security, social protection, secure means of livelihoods, homes where we can relax, strong community structures, or on the individual level compassionate senses of self.” 

This episode is a reflection on alienation, catastrophe, random acts of violence, cognitive dissonance, self-denial, brain fag syndrome, and some of the -isms at the root of these Nigerian nervous conditions today. It includes the voices of the film archivist Didi Cheeka, the international development practitioner Aaliyah Ibrahim, the artist Obayomi Anthony, and the founder of Pax Herbals, Fr Anselm Adodo.

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01:57 Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions

05:03 Historical Context & Brain Fag Syndrome

07:55 Crisis of Meaning and Cognitive Dissonance

11:19 Alienation in Nigerian Society

15:09 Marx's Theory of Alienation

19:51 Understanding Nigeria's Political and Economic System

22:40 Catastrophe- Interminable and so, Interruptable

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