scholarly journals Terror thrillers and tradition: a postcolonial reading of selected African cinema

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 153-168
Author(s):  
Victor Osae Ihidero
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Niger Delta ◽  
Terrorist Group ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Boko Haram ◽  
African Cinema ◽  
Western Education ◽  
Award Winning ◽  
Terrorist Groups ◽  
Volunteer Force

Nigeria, Kenya and Somalia are few of the countries in Africa faced with terrorism and militancy. The rise and expansion of terrorist groups such as Al-Shabaab, Boko Haram, the Niger-Delta Volunteer Force, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and recently, the Avengers, has risen to vent terror on the peoples of Nigeria, Kenya and Somalia. Whilst each of these countries has its own distinct challenges that led to the formation of such terrorist groups, the emergence of terrorism in Nigeria remains complex. One of the ways an explicit explanation has been given to these complexes in Nigeria is through thriller fiction. Nollywood as well as other film industries in Africa has produced several thriller fictions that attempt to explicate the reasons behind militancy and terrorism in Africa. October 1 and Eye in the Sky are two examples of African cinema that have attempted to film the recent rise of terrorism in Nigeria and Kenya. Within the lens of October 1, terrorism in Nigeria, and by extension Africa, is rooted on ethnic and religious divide fuelled by external contact with other cultures; in this case, the culture of imperial England. This study, using the premise of postcolonial reading, examined Kunle Afolayan's award winning terror thriller, October 1 and attempted to bring out the powercultural interplay that bred terrorism in Nigeria. The study found out that the ideology of Boko Haram ("Western education is a sin") terrorist group, as bad as it seems, is a postcolonial stance against [neo]colonialism. However, the ideology lost its steam because it failed to reassert the Nigerian humanity or show any humanist tendencies to reclaiming the African glorious past. Keywords: Terror thriller, Traditionality, African cinema, Postcoloniality, Terrorism

Boko Haram

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Warner ◽  
Ellen Chapin
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Political Science ◽  
The Other ◽  
Terrorist Group ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Boko Haram ◽  
Science History ◽  
Western Education ◽  
Gender And Age ◽  
Interdisciplinary Study

When referring to the terrorist group known as “Boko Haram,” observers are broadly pointing to a violent, Salafist-jihadist group (in its various incarnations and often encompassing its offshoots) based in northeastern Nigeria, which seeks to establish a caliphate ruled by sharia law in northeastern Nigeria and its environs. The group that served as its predecessor was founded in 2002 in Maiduguri, Nigeria, by Mohammed Yusuf, and was named “Jama’atu Ahil as-Sunna li ad-Da’wa wa al-Jihad,” or “People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad” (JAS). By the time that the group became violent in 2009—also the year that Yusuf died and the group was taken over by Abubakar Shekau—observers had begun to refer to the group as “Boko Haram,” broadly meaning “Western education is sinful” or “forbidden.” Even after the group pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and became the Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP) in March 2015, and later faced the breakaway of a splinter group in 2016, observers have still referred to these iterations as “Boko Haram.” In other words, this article, which is ostensibly about “Boko Haram,” is more generally about the various incarnations of the above-referenced group, the nature of its violence, its cycles of leadership, its shifting global and regional affiliations, and the offshoot groups which it has engendered, all of which continue to be referred to by more casual observers as “Boko Haram,” even though none of the above iterations of the group referred to themselves as such, at least formally. While this article is one that seeks to provide an overview of the best literature available on the emergence, evolution, and current activities of the “Boko Haram” phenomenon, given the multi- and interdisciplinary study of the group—most commonly undertaken by scholars of political science, history, religion, and conflict and security—there is no singular, unifying intellectual framework by which to study the group. Instead, writings on Boko Haram have occurred across disciplines, and as we articulate in the subsections below, have been defined by two general approaches. On one hand, scholars of Boko Haram have often written comprehensive histories of the group, attempting to understand the organization writ large, while on the other, others have written about particular facets of the group relating to Boko Haram’s emergence, ideology, patterns of violence, treatment of gender and age, and interactions with global jihadist organizations, and impact on communities in which it operates. In the pages below, we detail what we view to be the most rigorous pieces written to date in each of these two broad categories, keeping in mind that given space restrictions, we were not able to include sections on every facet of the Boko Haram insurgency.

scholarly journals The North African “Extremistan” of the Islamic State Caliphate

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-13
Author(s):  
Adrian Cosmin Basarabă ◽  
Maria-Mihaela Nistor
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Real Estate ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
North African ◽  
Boko Haram ◽  
Ongoing Process ◽  
The North ◽  
Terrorist Groups ◽  
Cellular Matrices

Abstract This article aims at presenting ISIS expansion in North Africa in the first quarter of 2016, with its subsequent implication in the wider framework of Jihadist proliferation worldwide. It can be argued that, while losing real estate in the Middle East, ISIS has started a permanent search for extra-cellular matrices or an ongoing process of de- and reterritorialization. The allegiance and support pledged by other African-based terrorist groups or organizations such as Boko Haram, al-I’tisam of the Koran and Sunnah in Sudan, al-Huda Battalion in Maghreb of Islam, The Soldiers of the Caliphate, al-Ghurabaa, Djamaat Houmat ad-Da’wa as-Salafiya and al-Ansar Battalion in Algeria, Islamic Youth Shura Council, Islamic State Libya (Darnah), in Libya, Jamaat Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, Jund al-Khilafah and Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem in Egypt, Okba Ibn Nafaa Battalion, Mujahideen of Tunisia of Kairouan and Jund al-Khilafah in Tunisia and al-Shabaab Jubba Region Cell Bashir Abu Numan in Somalia is an alarming hypothesis of Jihadism reaching “the threshold of inevitability”- syntagm existent in the network theories of David Singh Grewal- turning a whole region, continent of even world into what Nassim Nicholas Taleb would call Extremistan.

West Africa

2020 ◽  
pp. 105-123
Author(s):  
Danilo Mandić
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Organized Crime ◽  
Niger Delta ◽  
Regional Politics ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
World War ◽  
Boko Haram ◽  
The World

This chapter focuses on West Africa during 1989–2019. West Africa's transnational smuggling enterprises are hardly a novelty — or as menacing as they sound. Troc, or barter trade, is a way of life that preceded and survived colonialism. Commerce is known as al-frud, from the French fraude (fraud), reflecting the World War II-era tradition of regional smuggling. What is new in the globalized period is that mafias in five nations — and just as many budding ones — have played formative roles in regional politics. Three of the host states (Mali, Senegal, and Nigeria) were significantly torn by ethnocentric, separatist-controlled rackets in drugs and migrants (Azawad), marijuana (Casamance), and extortion (Boko Haram). Nigeria employed ethnocentric Niger Delta mafias to fight its northern separatists. In Niger's Agadez and Cameroon's Ambazonia, however, organized crime promoted cohesion.

Arrival of the Caliphate’s Soldiers in West Africa

2018 ◽  
pp. 411-414
Author(s):  
Wilāyat Gharb Ifriqiyā
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Task Force ◽  
Public Image ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Major Focus ◽  
Boko Haram ◽  
Joint Task ◽  
Joint Task Force

(2 JUNE 2015) [Trans.: Abdulbasit Kassim] Available at: http://jihadology.net/2015/06/02/new-video-message-from-the-islamic-state-arrivals-of-the-soldiers-of-the-caliphate-in-west-africa-wilayat-gharb-ifriqiyyah/ A mark of the post-allegiance to ISIS period for Boko Haram is the lowered profile of Shekau, who ceases to be the major focus of its public image. In this video, the two speakers alluded to the escalation of the conflict between Boko Haram and the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) comprising soldiers from Nigeria, Chad, Niger, and Benin. While mentioning the tensions and the context of distrust between Nigeria and her neighbors, the first speaker referred to the comment of the Chadian president, when he said that the fight against Boko Haram is being hampered by poor co-ordination between Chad and Nigeria. He also gave further information of the activities within the caliphate as well as detailed information concerning the soldiers killed in various clashes. This video should be understood within the context of Boko Haram’s display of resilience against the operations of the MNJTF...

Message from the Mujāhidin in West Africa to the Mujāhidin in Somalia

2018 ◽  
pp. 433-434
Author(s):  
Wilāyat Gharb Ifriqiya
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
West African ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Boko Haram

(14 OCTOBER 2015) [Trans.: Abdulbasit Kassim] Available at: http://jihadology.net/2015/10/14/new-video-message-from-the-islamic-state-message-from-the-mujāhidīn-in-west-africa-to-the-mujāhidīn-in-somalia-wilayat-gharb-ifriqiyyah/ Swearing allegiance to the Islamic State meant that to some extent Boko Haram began to be utilized by Islamic State as a proxy to obtain the allegiance of other African Salafijihadi groups. Although elements of AQIM and other West African groups had proved to be open to swearing, al-Shabab in Somalia thus far have proved to be resistant (for the most part—several sections of al-Shabab have declared allegiance). Boko Haram in this video is trying to exert its influence on behalf of ISIS. The influence of this video will later yield a result for the Islamic State as Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qadir Mu‘min, Abu Nu‘man al-Yentari and other members of al-Shabab pledged allegiance on 22 October 2015 to the leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, thus switching their allegiance from al-Shabab to the Islamic State...

scholarly journals Boko Haram Disgrace: Urgency for Renewal and Reform in northern Nigeria Supported by the Muslim Leadership

ICR Journal ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 595-578
Author(s):  
Daud Abdul-Fattah Batchelor
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Female Students ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Northern Nigeria ◽  
Boko Haram ◽  
Security Forces ◽  
Western Education ◽  
State Security ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The World

The infamous Boko Haram sect erupted on the world stage in 2009 with their aim to establish an Islamic State. Since its subsequent radicalisation resulting from heavy-handed treatment - including torture and murder - at the hands of state security forces, it now targets the army, police, and those associated with propagating western education. It has even degenerated into attacking the weakest participants, innocent civilians, especially school children. The most infamous act of Boko Haram was the abduction of nearly 300 female students in April 2014 from a government-run high school in the Christian town of Chibok. Over 70 percent of the girls were Christian, and reportedly a number were forcibly ‘converted’ to Islam. In February, 58 students mainly teenage boys, were burnt to death, shot or had their throats slit in a school attack. The mayhem continues as security forces seem incapable of containing the violence. 2050 people were killed in the first half of 2014 alone. The Paris Summit held in May led to a renewed military push from neighbouring countries with support from the United States, to contain Boko Haram. The Nigerian ‘ulama have condemned Boko Haram’s violence and language of arms as a fitna and cited it as “corruption on the earth” - one of the most serious crimes in Islam.

West African Islamic State (2015–16)

2018 ◽  
pp. 397-402
Author(s):  
Michael Nwankpa
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Leadership Style ◽  
Present State ◽  
West African ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Boko Haram ◽  
Current State ◽  
Global Agenda

Part five of the book presents the current state of Boko Haram as the Islamic State’s official affiliate in West Africa, showing a clear trajectory in the transformation of Boko Haram leadership as Nigerian preachers to Islamic State’s franchise. The chapter reflects on Boko Haram’s journey especially whether its present state could have been avoided if the Nigerian state had responded differently. The reflective mode however shifts towards more realistic assessments that include an analysis of Boko Haram’s quest to regain its original motive and rebrand itself and the contestation between its local and global agenda. This is most visibly reflected in the internal criticisms against Shekau’s leadership style and unhinged attacks especially against Muslims and the recent leadership contest and infighting between the de facto leader, Abubakar Shekau and ISIS-backed al-Barnawi, the son of Boko Haram’s murdered founder, Muhammad Yusuf. The chapter offers prognosis that helps us understand the likely direction that Boko Haram may take and the possible outcomes.

scholarly journals The Coalition for Counter-Terrorism Airstrikes and the Indifference of Some Countries: A Critical Study

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 136
Author(s):  
Abbas Tadayoni ◽  
Azita Partavousi
Keyword(s):  
Efficient Method ◽  
Terrorist Group ◽  
Critical Study ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Counter Terrorism ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Present Essay ◽  
Terrorist Groups

Daesh or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), is one of the most intimidating terrorist groups of contemporary world. In addition to many statements, resolutions and meetings, various airstrikes have been organized by different countries to counteract the terrorist group of ISIS. However, the use and success of these airstrikes are open to doubt. Given the significance of having a better understanding of this topic and finding an efficient method to fight and eradicate terrorism, the present essay analyzes the issue in its multifaceted dimensions. More specifically, the essay investigates the role of the coalition for the use of airstrikes and the indifference of some countries to the problem. In doing so, first a definition and brief survey of the concept of terrorism are given. Then, the rise of ISIS and its beliefs are discussed, followed by discussing the role of anti-ISIS coalition and the different meetings in fighting ISIS with an emphasis on the use and efficiency of airstrikes. Finally, a conclusion of the discussion is presented.

International jihadist terrorism is still potent

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
East Asia ◽  
South East Asia ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Combat Experience ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Past ◽  
Terrorist Groups ◽  
Jihadist Terrorism

Subject Jihadist terrorism in the past year. Significance Developments in terrorist groups in the past year were marked by Islamic State (IS)’s military 'defeat' in Syria and, in parallel, expansion into South-east Asia and West Africa via the emergence of new ‘provinces’; al-Qaida (AQ)’s consolidation and growing capabilities via opportunistic local collaborations; and concerns over Jemaah Islamiyah (JI)’s resurgence in Indonesia. Impacts Targeting of places of worship in South-east Asia may become an entrenched trend. AQIM will keep trying to exploit socio-political grievances in the Maghreb region and Mali. Despite its losses, IS has more money, better media profile and more combat experience than AQ.

scholarly journals Absolutism in Religion and Global Peace: Boko-Haram Factor in Nigeria and Its Educational Imperatives

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 11
Author(s):  
Muhammad Mann Shaaba
Keyword(s):  
Local Group ◽  
Religious Violence ◽  
Terrorist Group ◽  
Classroom Teaching ◽  
Boko Haram ◽  
Western Education ◽  
High Incidence ◽  
The World ◽  
Global Peace

Nigeria, hitherto regarded as a relatively peaceful country at least in terms of terrorism, became a globally notablecountry with high incidence of religious violence and outright terrorism. This paper discussed Boko-haram as theNigerian terrorist group that started from a small local group in Borno State of the country and grew into aninternational terrorist body that was found to be among the deadliest in the world. The group’s exclusively claim toabsolute truth about Islam made it to strongly believe in its ideas. It also motivated the members to sacrifice theirlives for violent propagation of Islam and hatred for western education. In order to prevent future terrorism,education was not only seen as imperative, but as the most enduring solution. Such education, according to the papershould involve classroom teaching that is organized on the basis of Harmony Education which emphasize theprinciples of understanding and appreciating whatever is presented to a learner before accepting or rejecting itrationally in a way that tolerates people with different views.

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