It’s graduation season again in Nigeria, and my eyes are seeing things. The season comes with the now-familiar procession of infants in oversized gowns, mortarboards askew, tottering under the weight of spectacle.
In hundreds (abi na thousands) of private schools across the country, children, some barely out of nappies, are decked in colourful robes, performing choreographed dances and reciting speeches they barely understand.
What was once a rite of passage marking the end of significant educational milestones has now become an annual carnival of consumption, where the celebration often outweighs the substance.
Every year, the spectacle gets more absurd as schools and parents try to outdo each other in a display of hedonism.
Through the lens of Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of habitus, the deeply ingrained habits, skills, and dispositions individuals acquire through life experiences- it becomes clear that these graduation ceremonies are more than just events.
They are performances of
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