Archives of power: Algorithmic memory, ideological (Re)production and negotiation of hegemonic masculinity

Abstract

This article examines how algorithmic memory shapes the production and negotiation of masculinity in the context of Nigeria. Inductively adopting Connell’s theory of hegemonic masculinity as an interpretive framework, the article attempts to understand how digital platforms mediate men’s self-perceptions amid economic precarities and shifting gender expectations. The analysis of two focus group discussions with men aged 24 to 45, the author constructed three interrelated dynamics: Algorithmic temporal dislocation (How resurfaced memories evoke shame and anxiety over economic failure); Memory curation as counter-memory (Strategies to reassert agency over algorithmic authorship and dominance); and Platformed provision and performing masculinity (Online visibility as a performative substitute for material provision), which explain how algorithmic systems shape and reproduce ideals of hegemonic masculinity. By locating algorithmic memory within the cultural politics of masculinity in Africa, this article advances our understanding of digital media as spaces where algorithms shape whose memories are amplified, whose identities are recognized, and how existing gender and social inequalities are reproduced and contested.