Juju Issue

Za! magazine published its debut issue titled the “Juju Issue” on July 7. The issue focuses on different kinds of spirituality in Northern and North-central Nigeria apart from the more visible Abrahamic religions.

Za! is published by Za! Publications, a company founded by writer and visual artist TJ Benson. It is a biannual magazine aiming to publish and curate experimental art.

In the Juju issue, Northern Nigerian spiritualities are compared with contemporary Abrahamic religions. Eloghosa Osunde’s gorgeous visual art decorates the cover of the issue.

Writers like Carl Terver, Blessing Tarfa and Pwaangulongii Daoud examine heredity in the context of spirituality, considering the inevitable tensions with contemporary religions and attempts to navigate constantly changing societal norms with what has been passed to them through ancestry. Poets like Hauwa Shaffii and fiction writers like Elnathan John contribute revelatory work that illuminate the question of superstition in our increasing urban world.