Violent performances and performative violence : an analysis of Boko Haram

Abstract

This thesis examines how a performance lens can help conflict analysts better understand violent groups and the context that frames their actions. A consideration of both the types and the styles of a group’s violence can reveal how actions are often determined by individual resentments, collective traumas, colonial legacies, international precedents, trends in mass media, and government actions all at the same time. This thesis is geared towards theory building. While the historical, cultural, and temporal context of Boko Haram is not identical to others, my process, questions, and findings illuminate other cases and offer insight into what analysts should examine in other groups. I discuss the context that has framed Boko Haram’s origins, development, and mobilization in what I term anti-colonial political Islam and describe how this context produced a major tendency reflected in their forms of violence. Another major tendency reflected in Boko Haram’s forms of violence is of gender-specific targeting, treatment, and trends of exploitation. I conclude that both major tendencies arise out of context in different ways. A performance lens provides the tools required for conflict analysts to uncover what tends to be hidden in plain sight.