Boko Haram insurgency and gendered victimhood: women as corporal victims and objects of war

ABSTRACT

Boko Haram insurgency in North East Nigeria has exposed women (girls, ladies, and mothers) to a complex jeopardy. While some women have suffered untimely widowhood or child-lack as a result of the Boko Haram onslaught, others have suffered death, forced abduction, and allied assaults on the main and side lines of the insurgency. Oftentimes, women have faced direct violence that essentially degrade their humanity. This is evident in the deployment of women as war-front sex slaves, human shields, and suicide bombers by the insurgents. The virtual expendability of women in the context of Boko Haram insurgency has been vividly demonstrated by the gale of female suicide bombings in Nigeria over the recent years. By means of a textual and contextual analysis of library sources and/or documentary data, as well as an adroit application of the theory of objectification, this study posits that, in addition to suffering collateral vulnerabilities, women have equally been instrumentalized as objects of terror in the context of Boko Haram insurgency. The paper further argues that the ‘weaponization’ of women’s bodies as bomb vessels and human shields by the insurgents highlights the height of women’s corporal victimization and objectification in contemporary asymmetric warfare.

KEYWORDS:

• Boko Haram
• gender
• insurgency
• objectification
• women
• victimhood

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Zedalis, “Female Suicide Bombers,” 1–18.

2. Banjeglav, “The Use of Gendered Victim Identities before and during the War in Former Yugoslavia”; Maiangwa and Amao, “Daughters, Brides and Supporters”; and Bloom, “Woman and Terrorism.”

3. Luehramann, Untitled, 78.

4. ICRC-EUISS, “Women and Armed Conflict,” 5.

5. Ibid.

6. Zenn, “Boko Haram beyond the Headlines,” 43.

7. Warner and Matfess, “Exploring Stereotypes,” v.

8. Benjeglav, “The Use of Gendered Victim Identities before and during the War in Former Yugoslavia”; and Jackson, “#Say-her-name”.

9. Olwan, “Gendered Violence”.

10. Okoli and Iortyer, “Terrorism and Humanitarian Crisis”; Onuoha and George, “Boko Haram’s Female Suicide Bombing.”

11. Warner & Matfess, “Exploring Stereotypes,” 1–44.

12. Onuoha and George, “Boko Haram’s Use of Female Suicide Bombing in Nigeria,” 1–9.

13. Gervais and Bernard et al., “Objectification and (De)humanization,” 2.

14. Ibid., 2.

15. Zenn, “Boko Haram beyond the Headlines,” 1–144.

16. Olaniyan, “Boko Haram and Female Suicide,” 1.

17. Wernel and Femia, “Epicenters of Climate and Security,” 68.

18. Warner and Matfess, “Exploring Stereotypes,” 6.

19. Zedalis, Female Suicide Bombers, v.

20. See note 16 above.

21. Harowitz, “Non-State Actors and Innovation,” 33.

22. Ibid.

23. Zenn, Boko Haram beyond the Headlines, 37.

24. Hoffman and McCormick, “Terrorism, Signaling and Suicide,” 272.

25. Zenn, Boko ‘Haram beyond the Headlines, 42.

26. Malesevic, “Cultural and Anthropological Approaches,”188.

27. Bloom, “Dying to Kill: The Allure of Suicide Terror,” 1–251.

28. Onuoha and George, “Boko Haram’s Use of Female Suicide Bombing in Nigeria,” 6.

29. Warner and Matfess, Exploding Stereotypes, 42.

30. Bloom, “Woman and Terrorism.”

31. Maiangwa and Amao, “Daughters, Brides, and Supporter of the Jihad,” 117.

32. Zedalis, “Female Suicide Bombers,”8.

33. Ibid., 8.

34. Okoli, “Boko Haram and Forestland Governance.”

35. Zedalis, “Female Suicide Bombers,” 9.

36. See note 31 above.

37. Zedalis, “Female Suicide Bombers,” 1–18.

38. Raghavan and Balasubramaniyan,”Evolving Role of Women in Terror.”

39. Gentry and Sjoberg, “Beyond Monsters, Mothers and Whores,” 1–304.

40. Ibid.

41. See note 12 above.

42. Bloom, “Dying to Kill,” 1–251.

43. See note 1 above.

44. O’rouke, “What is Special about Female Suicide.”

45. Agara, “Gendering Terrorism,” 115–25.

46. Ibid., 121.

47. See note 12 above.

48. Zenn, Boko Haram beyond the Headlines, 36.

49. Ibid., 36.

50. Tervooren, “Representing Women and Terrorist Violence.”

51. Fredrickson and Roberts, “Objectification Theory.”

52. Calogero,“Objectification Theory, Self-objectification, and Body Image,” 574.

53. Balraj,“Understanding Objectification Theory.”

54. Calogero, “Objectification Theory, Self-objectification, and Body Image.”

55. Nussbaun, “Objectification.”

56. Ibid.

57. Gervaus et al., “Objectification and (De)humanization”; and Calogero, “Objectification Theory, Self-objectification, and Body Image.”

58. WANEP, “News Situation Tracking-Nigeria,” 1.

59. Onuoha and George,“Boko Haram’s Use of Female Suicide Bombing in Nigeria; and Warner and Matfess, Exploding Stereotypes, 1–44.

60. Zenn, Boko Haram beyond the Headlines, 42.

61. Onuoha and George, “Boko Haram’s Use of Female Suicide Bombing in Nigeria,” 6–7.

62. Warner and Matfess, op. cit., 39.

63. Onuoha and George, “Boko Haram’s Use of Female Suicide Bombing in Nigeria”; and Okoli, “Nigeria,”34–55.

64. Olaniyan, “Boko Haram and the Specter of Female Suicide bombers in Nigeria,” 1–14.

65. Onuoha and George, “Boko Haram’s Use of Female Suicide Bombing in Nigeria”; and Olaniyan, op.cit.

66. Warner and Matfess, Exploding Stereotypes, 39.

67. Bloom,”Woman and Terrorism,” 1.

68. Zenn, Boko Haram beyond the Headlines, 44.

69. Onuoha and George, “Boko Haram’s Use of Female Suicide Bombing in Nigeria”; Olaniyan, “Boko Haram and the Specter of Female Suicide bombers in Nigeria.”

70. UNICEF, “Beyond Chibok,” 3.

71. Warner and Matfess, Exploding Stereotypes, iv.

72. Olaniyan, “Boko Haram and the Specter of Female Suicide bombers in Nigeria.”

73. Omonobi and Muhammad, “Father made me a Suicide Bomber,” 1.

74. Onuoha and George, “Boko Haram’s Use of Female Suicide Bombing in Nigeria.”

75. See note 72 above.

76. Anaedozie, “Emergence of Female Suicide Bombers.”

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Al Chukwuma Okoli

Al Chukwuma Okoli (B.Sc., M.Sc., Political Science), holds Ph.D in Defence and Strategic Studies from Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA). He is a lecturer in Political Science at Federal University Lafia where he doubles as the Co-ordinator of Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution programme. Dr. Okoli’s research interest revolves around Gender Studies, Political Ecology, and Liberal Security Studies in which fields he has researched and published widely. He has consulted for The Conversation (South Africa), Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) Abuja, Centre for Defence Studies and Documentation- Nigerian Defence Academy, Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC), Jaji-Nigeria, and National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN). He is a member of Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA). He is also a laureate of CODESRIA’s Gender Institute (2018) and a research fellow of IFRA-Nigeria. Dr. Okoli has published in reputable academic journals, including African Security Review, Africa Development, and Conflict Studies Quarterly. He believes in a world governed by liberal knowledge and free thought.

Stephen Nnaemeka Azom

Stephen Nnaemeka Azom holds a Ph.D in Political Science with a specialization in International Relations. He is a lecturer in the Department of Political Science, Federal University Lafia, Nigeria. His research interests revolve around international political economy, post-colonial state and development studies. He is widely published in local and international reputable journals.