Vlogging truth to power: a study of the postcolonial rhetoric of disenfranchised Ghanaian migrants' political vlogs

Even though political vlogging, largely understood as the production of online videos to demand accountability from the state, provides an avenue for netizens to express dissent, this form of civic engagement comes with drawbacks. Based on selective archiving of the political rhetoric of 12 disenfranchised Ghanaian migrants domiciled in the United States and Europe, I draw attention to four main epistemic complications inherent in the diasporians' public opinions of a perceived political crisis in Ghana. The analysis shows that the migrants raise emotional arguments concerning such topoi as corruption and bad governance; poor social infrastructure; unemployment; a weak educational system; and the problem of religion and superstition. The study also reveals that the political messaging of the migrants is fundamentally premised on a Eurocentric view of governance which, on the contrary, glorifies Western imperialism, and reinforces Victorian narratives that depict postcolonial subjects as indolent, psychotic, and malevolent. The paper is situated at the intersection of political rhetoric and postcolonial theory.