Boko Haram

For many observers, the predation of Boko Haram, unsparing and venal in its manifestation, is shocking, and it seems to lack a local historical frame of reference that would help make it understandable. For others, Boko Haram's self-declared jihad resonates within a long, local, contested historical memory of religious militancy.

Boko Haram makes sense of these two seemingly contradictory perceptions. It explains Boko Haram's simultaneous connection to, and disconnection from, a complex history of religious dissidence and militancy in Northern Nigeria.

It also answers the question of where the militants came from, what inspired and motivated them, and whether there is a local history of militant religious rebellion that could both illuminate and challenge Boko Haram's self-proclaimed jihad.

Moses E. Ochonu analyzes the rise and evolution of the Boko Haram movement within and against the contentious religious pasts of Northern Nigeria.