1) Doctor of Philology, Associate Professor, Professor of the School of Foreign Languages, National Research University “Higher School of Economics”, Russia, Moscow, anagornaya@hse.ru, ORCID 0000-0002-6821-0835 2) post-graduate student, National Research University “Higher School of Economics”, Russia, Moscow, jamescul36@gmail.com, ORCID 0000-0002-0343-2883
The paper traces the emergence of the celebrity cancer trend in Nigerian English-medium newspaper articles. Celebrity cancer is presented as a new discursive prac-tice within which a celebrity makes a public disclosure of their cancer experience in the media. This practice is considered within the broader context of cancer discourse and is regarded as a potentially efficient means of raising public awareness of can-cer, enhancing cancer literacy and heightening cancer vigilance. These effects are of particular value in developing countries where cancer discourse is underdeveloped, Nigeria being one of them. The paper identifies the main features of the contempo-rary celebrity culture, looks into its formation in modern Nigeria, considers the soci-etal impact of celebrities and the role they can play in promoting correct health-seeking behaviors. It further analyzes eight articles from six major Nigerian newspa-pers dated 2024 to identify the main features of this discursive trend with a focus on their educational potential.
cancer discourse; celebrity culture; celebrity cancer; discursive practice; discursive trend; Nigeria.
Download textFor citing: Nagornaya A.V., Nwankwo J.Ch. (2025) The celebrity cancer trend as part of the emergent cancer discourse in contemporary Nigeria. Ethnopsycholinguistics. Moscow. INION RAN.Vol. 3 (22). pp. 7-23. DOI: 10.31249/epl/2025.03.01