https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1012-4539
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Abstract
This paper draws on fieldwork at three camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Northeast Nigeria. It interrogates the pre-displacement experiences of participants, their transition to and experiences of internal displacement, vignettes of life at IDP camps, their relationship with host communities, the non-universality of experiences of sexual and gender-based violence among female IDPs (despite the particularities of experiences of women and young girls) and the resilience and agency of IDPs. The paper argues that scholarly engagement with IDPs and their social conditions should go beyond fixation on or fetishisation of poverty. Overall, the paper contributes to the empirical literature on conditions of internal displacement in sub-Saharan Africa.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 There is also limited engagement with the post-displacement experiences of former IDPs.
2 Abdulazeez and Oriola, “Criminogenic Patterns”; Logie and Daniel, “My Body Is Mine.”
3 Abdulazeez and Oriola, “Criminogenic Patterns”; Human Rights Watch, “Nigeria.”
4 Stoddard, “Revolutionary Warfare?”
5 A detailed engagement with the rise and spread of Boko Haram is beyond the purview of this paper. For more on Boko Haram, see Akinola, “Boko Haram Insurgency in Nigeria”; and Oriola, “Unwilling Cocoons.”
6 UNHCR, “Nigeria Situation.”
7 Ibid.
8 IDMC, “Mid-Year Figures.”
9 Ibid.
10 Ibid.
11 Ibid.
12 IDMC, “Millions of People Forced From Homes,” 2.
13 IDMC, “Mid-Year Figures,” 6.
14 Kamara, Cyril and Renzaho, “Social and Political Dimensions of Internal Displacement”; Lischer, “Causes and Consequences of Conflict-Induced Displacement.”
15 Abdulazeez and Oriola, “Criminogenic Patterns.”
16 Olanrewaju, Omotoso, and Alabi, “Boko Haram Insurgency.”
17 Oladeji et al., “Integrating Immunisation Services into Nutrition Sites.”
18 Hamid and Musa, “Mental Health Problems.”
19 Kaiser et al., “Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Needs.”
20 Musa and Hamid, “Darfur Crisis.”
21 Ifije et al., “Supporting the Fight.”
22 Chukwuorji, Ifeagwazi and Eze, “Prolonged Grief Disorder Symptoms.”
23 Janmyr, “Recruiting Internally Displaced Persons.”
24 Hakamies, Geissler, and Borchert, “Providing Reproductive Health Care.”
25 Adewale, “Internally Displaced Persons.”
26 Ahoua et al., “High Mortality in an Internally Displaced Population.”
27 Kandiyoti, “Bargaining with Patriarchy.”
28 Onayemi, “Finding a Place.”
29 Okeke-Ihejirika, Negotiating Power and Privilege.
30 Mkandawire-Valhmu et al., “Innovative and Collective Capacity.”
31 Crowe et al., “Case Study Approach.”
32 Hannerz, “Being There.”
33 Braun and Clarke, “Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology.”
34 Toole and Waldman, “Refugees and Displaced Persons.”
35 Participant 09, female, IDP, personal interview, July–August 2017.
36 Participant 13, female, IDP, married with four children, personal interview, July–August 2017.
37 Participant 06, male, IDP, 38 years, married with three children; personal interview, July–August 2017.
38 Participant 19, male IDP, married with four children, personal interview, July–August 2017.
39 Participant 13, female, IDP, married with four children, personal interview, July–August 2017.
40 Participant 15, female, IDP, married with four children, personal interview, July–August 2017.
41 The paper returns to this theme in the final section.
42 Participant 08, male, IDP, separated father with two children, personal interview, July–August 2017.
43 Participant 07, female, IDP, single, personal interview, July–August 2017.
44 Participant 15, female, IDP, married with four children, personal interview, July–August 2017.
45 Participant 14, female, IDP, married with three children, personal interview, July–August 2017.
46 Participant 09, female, IDP, personal interview, July–August 2017.
47 Participant 04, male, IDP, married with four children, personal interview, July–August 2017.
48 Participant 02, female, IDP, married with four children, personal interview, July–August 2017.
49 Participant 05, female, IDP, volunteer teacher, married, personal interview, July–August 2017.
50 Participant 12, female, IDP, married with five children, personal interview, July–August 2017.
51 Participant 04, male, IDP, married with four children, personal interview, July–August 2017.
52 Participant 05, female, IDP, volunteer teacher, married, personal interview, July–August 2017; Participant 09, female, IDP, personal interview, July–August 2017.
53 Participant 18, female, IDP, married with eight children, personal interview, July–August 2017.
54 Participant 11, female, IDP, married with two children, personal interview, July–August 2017.
55 Participant 04, male, IDP, married with four children, personal interview, July–August 2017.
56 Participant 10, female, IDP, personal interview, July–August 2017.
57 Kazeem, “Fund Scandal.”
58 Ibid.; Adebayo, “‘Shady’ Companies.”
59 See Abdulazeez and Oriola, “Criminogenic Patterns.”
60 Kaiser et al., “Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Needs”; Hamid and Musa, “Mental Health Problems.”
61 Participant 08, male, IDP, married with two children, personal interview, July–August 2017.
62 Participant 12, female, IDP, married with five children, personal interview, July–August 2017.
63 Participant 02, female, IDP, married with four children, personal interview, July–August 2017.
64 Participant 13, female, IDP, personal interview, July–August 2017.
65 Participant 05, female, IDP, personal interview, July–August 2017.
66 Participant 07, female, IDP, with six children, personal interview, July–August 2017.
67 Olanrewaju, Omotoso, and Alabi, “Boko Haram Insurgency.”
68 Participant 01, female, IDP, mother with two children, July–August 2017.
69 Participant 05, female, IDP, personal interview, July-August 2017.
70 Leidman et al., “Acute Malnutrition Among Children.”
71 Participant 05, female, IDP, personal interview, July–August 2017.
72 See Mbiyozo, “How Boko Haram Specifically Targets Displaced People.”
73 Participant 04, male, IDP, married with four children, personal interview, July–August 2017.
74 Branch, “Gulu in War and Peace?”
75 Stickley and Stickley, “Holistic Model for the Rehabilitation and Recovery.”
76 Džuverović and Vidojević, “Peacebuilding or ‘Peacedelaying.’”
77 Participant 09, female, IDP, personal interview, July–August 2017.
78 Participant 18, female, IDP, married with eight children, personal interview, July–August 2017.
79 Abdulazeez and Oriola, “Criminogenic Patterns”; Human Rights Watch, “Nigeria.”
80 OCHA, “Women Facing High Risk.”
81 Participant 12, female, IDP, married with five children, personal interview, July–August 2017.
82 Adewale, “Internally Diplaced Persons.”
83 Participant 04, male, IDP, married with four children, personal interview, July–August 2017.
84 Participant 02, female, IDP, married with four children, personal interview, July–August 2017; Islamic scholars or Muslim religious leaders. The term “Mallams” is also generally used in the Hausa language to refer to educated men.
85 Ehiri et al., “Training and Deployment of Lay Refugee.”
86 Ibid.
87 Participant 06, male, IDP, married father of three children, personal interview, July–August 2017.
88 Participant 05, female, IDP, personal interview, July–August 2017.
89 Omar, Abouaoun and Pouligny, “Strategies for Resilience.”
90 Brun, “Spatial Practices of Integration and Segregation.”
91 Participant 09, female, IDP, personal interview, July–August 2017.
92 Participant 01, female, IDP, personal interview, July–August 2017.
93 See Winslow, “Strange Bedfellows.”
94 Haruna, “Boko Haram: Borno Governor Lambasts UNICEF.”
95 Reuters, “Nigerian Army Says NGO Aided Terrorists.”
96 Participant 04, male, IDP, married with four children, personal interview, July–August 2017.
97 Ibid.
98 Participant 11, female, IDP, married with two children, personal interview, July–August 2017.
99 Olwedo et al., “Factors Associated with Malnutrition.”
100 Gbakima et al., “High Prevalence of Bedbugs.”
101 Cavanagh, “Enclosure, Dispossession, and the Green Economy”; Kamara, Cyril and Renzaho, “Social and Political Dimensions of Internal Displacement.”
102 See Kamara, Cyril and Renzaho, “Social and Political Dimensions of Internal Displacement,” 464.
103 Ibid., 285.
104 Ibid.
105 Whyte et al. 2013, “Remaining Internally Displaced.”
106 Zetter, “Unlocking the Protracted Displacement of Refugees.”
107 Long, Permanent Crises?
108 Human Rights Watch, “Nigeria”; Abdulazeez and Oriola, “Criminogenic Patterns.”
109 Sampson, Raudenbush, and Earls, “Neighborhoods and Violent Crime,” 918.
110 Volker et al., “Lost Letters in Dutch Neighborhoods.”
111 See Sampson, Raudenbush, and Earls, “Neighborhoods and Violent Crime”; Browning, Dirlam, and Boettner, “From Heterogeneity to Concentration.”
112 Goodhand, “Research in Conflict Zones,” 8.
113 See Adewale, “Internally Displaced Persons.”
114 Cohen, “Developing an International System.”
115 Martin, “Rethinking protection”; Cohen, “Strengthening Protection.”
116 See Achvarina and Reich, “No Place to Hide.”
117 Adewale, “Internally Displaced Persons.”
118 Abdulazeez and Oriola, “Criminogenic Patterns.”
119 Collado, “Determinants of Return Intentions.”
120 Oginni, Opoku, and Alupo, “Terrorism in the Lake Chad Region” ; Collado, “Determinants of Return Intentions.”
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Philomina Okeke-Ihejirika
Philomina Okeke-Ihejirika is a Professor in the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Alberta and Director of the Pan African Collaboration for Excellence (pace.ualberta.ca). She is a leading scholar who has carried out numerous research projects on gender issues in the African and African diaspora contexts. She is a Killam Scholar, a Carnegie Fellow, and a collaborating researcher with the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development.
Temitope B. Oriola
Temitope B. Oriola is joint Editor-in-Chief of the African Security journal and an Associate Professor at the University of Alberta, Canada. A recipient of the Governor General of Canada Academic Gold Medal, Oriola’s book Criminal Resistance? The Politics of Kidnapping Oil Workers is one of a small number of book-length sociological investigations of political kidnapping in the English language. Oriola is president of the Canadian Association of African Studies (CAAS).
Bukola Salami
Bukola Salami is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta. Her research programme focuses on migrants’ health. She has been involved in over 40 funded research projects. She is founder and leader of the African Migrant Child Research Network of 26 scholars from four continents. She has received several awards for research excellence including the Sigma Theta Tau International Honour Society of Nursing – International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame award.
Michael Obiefune
Michael Obiefune is an Assistant Professor in Family Medicine and Researcher at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. He has done extensive work in programme development, implementation and delivery of health services built on sustainability. His research interest is in implementation science in resource-constrained, minority and internally displaced population settings including research capacity and development of local investigators.
Nwene Ejike
Nwene Ejike received his medical degree from the University of Jos, Nigeria. He holds an Master’s and Doctorate in Public Health. He is Project Director for the CCCRN USAID-funded TB LON Projects and Principal Investigator for the Positive Action for Children Fund’s ‘Strengthening HIV Intervention and Prevention amongst Pediatrics’ Project in Nigeria under the Initiative For Good Health in Nigeria (IGH).
Ayodotun Olutola
Ayodotun Olutola is a Pediatrician and Chief Executive Officer of the Center for Clinical Care and Clinical Research in Abuja, Nigeria. He has led implementation of multiple funded projects with local and international agencies such as United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), STOP TB Partnership and other funding agencies. His interest is in Pediatric Infectious Diseases. Olutola has published several articles on pediatric HIV co-morbidities and treatment outcomes.
Omolola Irinoye
Omolola Irinoye is a Professor of Nursing at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. She is a community/public health nurse with research interests in sexual-reproductive health, violence and family health. She is an active contributor to policy, capacity building for care and support of vulnerable groups, particularly orphans and vulnerable children, adolescents and women. She is actively involved in human resource development for health in Nigeria and other African countries.