Terrorism, Politics, and Human Rights Advocacy: The #Bringbackourgirls Movement

Terrorism, Politics, and Human Rights Advocacy provides an insider-outsider analysis of the #BringBackOurGirls (#BBOG) movement. Formed through a coalition of elite women and middle-class allies to advocate for the rescue of over 200 high school girls from Chibok, Nigeria, who were kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014, the movement is a global leader in the ’lives matter’ advocacy and a new episode in African women-led rights movements.

Based on data garnered from over 170 research participants, Oriola demonstrates how the #BBOG transformed the Chibok kidnapping into an international cause and a social problem in a sociological sense, inadvertently creating a social problem industry. The volume provides in-depth analyses of the organizational structure, decision-making, repertoire of protest, framing, internal dynamics, and divisions within the #BBOG. Far more than a social media phenomenon, the #BBOG deploys a hybridized communication process which seamlessly combines the time-space compression of social media with the relative fidelity and territoriality of traditional media. State repression against the #BBOG and response of movement actors are also articulated, and the outcomes and impact of the #BBOG explicated.

The BBOG experience speaks to the texture of the African state and its military architecture, party politics, and challenges to human rights advocacy; the findings speak to peace and security in Africa, the war against terrorism in the Lake Chad Basin, perpetuation of social problems, and outcomes of social movements in the postcolony.

Oxford Studies in African Politics and International Relations is a series for scholars and students working on African politics and International Relations and related disciplines. Volumes concentrate on contemporary developments in African political science, political economy, and International Relations, such as electoral politics, democratization, decentralization, gender and political representation, the political impact of natural resources, the dynamics and consequences of conflict, comparative political thought, and the nature of the continent’s engagement with the East and West. Comparative and mixed methods work is particularly encouraged, as is interdisciplinary research and work that considers ethical issues relating to the study of Africa. Case studies are welcomed but should demonstrate the broader theoretical and empirical implications of the study and its wider relevance to contemporary debates. The focus of the series is on sub-Saharan Africa, although proposals that explain how the region engages with North Africa and other parts of the world are of interest.

Series Editors: Nic Cheeseman, Professor of Democracy and International Development, University of Birmingham; Peace Medie, Senior Lecturer in Gender and International Politics, University of Bristol; and Ricardo Soares de Oliveira, Professor of the International Politics of Africa, University of Oxford.

Temitope Oriola, Professor of Criminology & Sociology, University of Alberta

Temitope Oriola is Professor of Criminology and Sociology at the University of Alberta, Canada. A recipient of the Governor General of Canada Academic Gold Medal, Oriola is the author of Criminal resistance? The politics of kidnapping oil workers (Routledge, 2013), one of a handful of book-length sociological investigations of political kidnapping in the English language. His research focuses on terrorism studies, insurgencies, and police use of force. A decorated researcher and teacher, Oriola is a two-time recipient of the prestigious Carnegie fellowship, President of the Canadian Sociological Association, and recipient of the Confederation of Alberta Faculty Associations Distinguished Academic Award. He is on the Board of Directors for the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences and former special adviser to the Government of Alberta on Police Act Review. He is also a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee medal.