Identity, Hybridity, and Language in Contemporary Hausa Urban Youth Culture: An Ethnolinguistic Study

Contemporary Hausa urban youth culture in cities like Kano, Sokoto, and Maiduguri is characterised by complex negotiations of identity that involve simultaneously claiming Hausa ethnic and Islamic religious belonging while participating in globalised youth popular culture, creating distinctive hybrid identities expressed through equally distinctive hybrid language practices. This doctoral study investigates the construction of identity, hybridity, and language practice among contemporary Hausa urban youth, developing an original ethnolinguistic theory of Hausa youth identity construction. Drawing on language and identity theory, youth studies, and postcolonial cultural studies, the research employs a multi-site extended ethnography across urban youth communities in Kano, Sokoto, and Maiduguri over three years. Ethnographic data collection involves participant observation in youth social spaces including university campuses, markets, mosques, barbershops, and online social media communities; in-depth interviews with 90 young Hausa people aged 18 to 28; social media linguistic analysis of 300 posts from Hausa youth digital communities; and recording of naturally occurring peer group conversations. The analysis examines how hybrid identities are linguistically constructed through repertoire selection, code-mixing patterns, metalinguistic commentary, and stylistic creativity. Original theoretical contributions include a Hausa Urban Youth Identity Construction Framework that theorises identity as a dynamic achievement accomplished through moment-by-moment linguistic choices within the structural constraints of social position, religious obligation, and economic circumstance. The study documents the emergence of a distinctive Hausa urban youth linguistic repertoire that is neither simply hybrid nor simply traditional. Keywords: Hausa youth culture, Identity, Hybridity, Ethnolinguistics, Urban language.