Upload
sundjatakeita
View
218
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
7/31/2019 Boko Haram as MetaAxiological Dilemma, WVSU Faculty Lecture 2012
1/26
Resolving Meta-Axiological Dilemma of
Conflictual Nigerian Identities
04/26/2012
Sundjata ibn Hyman, PhD. West Virginia State University
7/31/2019 Boko Haram as MetaAxiological Dilemma, WVSU Faculty Lecture 2012
2/26
The recurrence of violence in the northern citiesof Bauchi and Maiduguri prompted a recent visit
to Nigeria by the Commissioner of United States
Commission on International Religious Freedom
(CIRF), Leonard Leo.
Mr. Leo observed that since 1999 over 10,000
lives have been lost to religious crises in
Northern Nigeria. This has occurred despiteprovisions in the national constitution for
freedom of religion and belief.
7/31/2019 Boko Haram as MetaAxiological Dilemma, WVSU Faculty Lecture 2012
3/26
KADUNA 2000 -- NonMuslims opposed implementation of
Sharia law, resulting in an estimated 3,000 deaths.KADUNA 2004 -A newspaper article implying the Prophet
Muhammad would approve of the Miss World beauty pageantfinals sparked MuslimChristian riots.
KANO 2004 -- MuslimChristian rioting left an estimated6,000 dead.
MAIDUGURI2006 -- Muslim rally to condemn blasphemousDanish depiction of the Prophet Muhammad led to violent clasheswith Christians that left nearly 200 dead; churches, mosques andarea businesses destroyed; and, created a large refugee populationin neighboring Cameroun.
JOS2008Dispute over state election results in several days of
violent Christian Muslim clashes.MAIDUGURI2009 --Boko Haram members storm
government buildings and police headquarters. Several days ofgun battles ensued, culminating in assault onBoko Haramstronghold. Between300 - 700 peoplebelieved dead, and about
3,500 people displaced.
7/31/2019 Boko Haram as MetaAxiological Dilemma, WVSU Faculty Lecture 2012
4/26
Ethno-religious violence in Northern Nigeria is
typically framed as an historical animosity betweenindigent Muslim and migr Christian faithcommunities.
The 2006 Maiduguri riots did identify as antagonists a
growing cadre of impoverished, jobless Muslim youth-- al Majirai-- educated bymallams who embracean increasingly fundamentalist perspective.
The 2009 Maiduguriviolence signaled the emergence
ofBoko Haram as antagonists. Nigerian security forces captured sect leader,
Muhammad Yusufand handed him over toMaiduguri police. Subsequent interrogation, several
hours later, journalists were shown Yusufs dead body.
7/31/2019 Boko Haram as MetaAxiological Dilemma, WVSU Faculty Lecture 2012
5/26
FEARON-LAITINHYPOTHESISa
HUNTINGTONTHESISb
aFearon & Laitin, 2003:75, 82. Also see Fearon & Laitin 1996; Horowitz 1985; Posner 2004; Weingast 1997.
bHuntington, S.P. (1993, 1996).
7/31/2019 Boko Haram as MetaAxiological Dilemma, WVSU Faculty Lecture 2012
6/26
Violent civil conflict is a result of socialconditions favoring insurgency: cc =(xn)
Where social conditions(xn) are:
x1= widespread poverty that marks financiallyand bureaucratically weak states,
x2= the size of ethnic groups relative to thenational arena,
x3
= the role of formal and informal institutions forconflict regulation,
x4= the extent to which different identities overlapwith or crosscut each other.
Fearon & Laitin, 2003:75, 82. Also see Fearon & Laitin 1996; Horowitz 1985; Posner 2004; Weingast 1997.
7/31/2019 Boko Haram as MetaAxiological Dilemma, WVSU Faculty Lecture 2012
7/26
Strict parameters ofintra-Western civil conflicts
too narrow.
Conflicts are more inter-civilizational between theWest and non-Western societies, as well as among
non-Western societies.
Blocs of civilizations define their identity andculture determines primary interests and loyalties.
At the root of this clash of civilizations is astruggle between religious identity, attendantinterests and loyalties.
Huntington, S.P. (1993, 1996).
7/31/2019 Boko Haram as MetaAxiological Dilemma, WVSU Faculty Lecture 2012
8/26
Western interpretations of conflicts aretoo narrow
Social conditions precipitate conflict.
Conflict between religious identity,interests and loyalties.
Culture determines objectives (primaryinterests) and loyalties.
Congruence between overlappingidentities
7/31/2019 Boko Haram as MetaAxiological Dilemma, WVSU Faculty Lecture 2012
9/26
Strong Islamic (religious), weak Hausa identities (ethnic).
(incongruence between overlapping identities) meta-axiological dilemma
Strong Christian (religious), strong Igbo identities(ethnic). (congruence between overlapping identities)
westernized
High prevalence of familial socioeconomic disadvantage.(social conditions)
Strong perception of competition between ethno-religiousgroups over scarce economic resources. (social conditions)
Strong attitudes associated with negative historicalperception of indigenous Christian faith communities.(conflicting religious identities and loyalties)
c
ibn Hyman (2007). Maiduguri al Majirai: The Role of Street Boys in Ethno-Religious Violence in Borno State.
7/31/2019 Boko Haram as MetaAxiological Dilemma, WVSU Faculty Lecture 2012
10/26
Nigerian militant Islamist group desiring the.
believes Nigerias government is being corruptedbyWestern ideas and wants to see replacement of thecurrent Nigerian federal democratic government
with a strictSharia basedgovernment
Hostile toward Western institutions (democracy),opposed to Western culture, Western seculareducation system , and modern science.
Members drawn largely from disaffected Muslim
youth who are university students and structurallyunemployed graduates. Followers are conservative,strict, and refusing to mix with local people.
Boko Haram translates as Western education is
prohibited.
7/31/2019 Boko Haram as MetaAxiological Dilemma, WVSU Faculty Lecture 2012
11/26
a Muslim youth organization founded in 1995 by MallamLawal from the Indimi Mosque in Maiduguri under the
nameShabaab.
In 1999, Lawal yielded leadership to Mustapha Modu Jon,commonly called Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf, to pursuefurther study at the University of Medina, Saudi Arabia.
in 2001, evolved intoJamaatulAhlus SunnahLiddaawati Wal Jihad(brethren united in holystruggle), and relocates in 2004 to Yobe State.
Members speak only Arabic, and membership includes
people from neighboring Tchad. Desires replacement of current form of government in
Northern Nigerian (constitutional democracy) withSharia basedgovernment. Sharia law is already practiced
in the North.
7/31/2019 Boko Haram as MetaAxiological Dilemma, WVSU Faculty Lecture 2012
12/26
The name Boko Haram. 'Boko' -- Hausa for non-Islamic [western] education(from English "book
1).
'Haram' -- Arabic for prohibited, illegal, forbidden bydivine law, unrighteous, not prescribed by Allah,profane. The literal meaning of Boko Haram is Non-Islamic (Western) education is contrary to divine law.
Identifies a clear philosophical position within a largerscholarly debate among Northern Hausa Muslims over thesocial merits of the acquisition and diffusion of thematerialist, atomistic axiological set of Western society.
Signifies a fundamental disagreement with the socialtransmission through education of Western axiology andpraxes which includes its attendant cosmological andontological orientations (sic:value system)
1From modified Latin alphabet introduced by the French and English colonial authorities at the beginning of the 20th century for the Hausalanguage.
7/31/2019 Boko Haram as MetaAxiological Dilemma, WVSU Faculty Lecture 2012
13/26
INTERROGATOR: Why should you say Boko is haram?
YUSUF: Of course it is haram.
INTERROGATOR: Why did you say that?
YUSUF: The reasons are so many
INTERROGATOR: The trouser you are wearing
YUSUF: (cuts in)it is pure cotton andcotton
belongs to Allah.
INTERROGATOR:But Allah said in the Quran iqra,that people should seek knowledge
Retrieved from http://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&caton 04 August 2009.
http://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&cathttp://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&cathttp://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&cathttp://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&cathttp://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&cathttp://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&cathttp://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&cathttp://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&cathttp://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&cathttp://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&cathttp://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&cathttp://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&cathttp://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&cathttp://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&cathttp://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&cathttp://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&cathttp://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&cat7/31/2019 Boko Haram as MetaAxiological Dilemma, WVSU Faculty Lecture 2012
14/26
YUSUF: Thats correct, but not the knowledge that
contravenes the teachings of Islam.All knowledgethat contradicts Islam is prohibited by the Almighty.Sihiri (sorcery) is knowledge, but Allah hath forbiddenit; shirk (polytheism) is knowledge, but Allah has
forbidden it; astronomy is knowledge, but Allah hasforbidden it
INTERROGATOR:At your place we found computers,syringesare all that no products of knowledge?
YUSUF: They are purely technological things, not Bokoandwesternization is different.
Retrieved from http://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&cat on 04 August 2009.
http://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&cathttp://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&cathttp://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&cathttp://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&cathttp://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&cathttp://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&cathttp://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&cathttp://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&cathttp://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&cathttp://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&cathttp://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&cathttp://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&cathttp://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&cathttp://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&cathttp://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&cathttp://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&cathttp://news.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3822:transcript-of-late-yusufs-interrogation-by-the-army&cat7/31/2019 Boko Haram as MetaAxiological Dilemma, WVSU Faculty Lecture 2012
15/26
Western education spoils the belief in one
God.(cosmology)
"Like rain. We believe it is a creation of God ratherthan an evaporation caused by the sun thatcondenses and becomes rain.Like saying the world
is a sphere.If it runs contrary to theteachings of Allah, we reject it. (cosmology --theology vs. science)
We also reject the theory of Darwinism."(ontology theology vs. science)
"There are prominent Islamic preachers who haveseen and understood thatthe present Western-style education is mixed with issues that runcontrary to our beliefs in Islam. (producesmeta-axiological dilemma)
7/31/2019 Boko Haram as MetaAxiological Dilemma, WVSU Faculty Lecture 2012
16/26
Corroborates the Fearon-Laitin culturaldeterminism of the objectives of conflicting groups(primary interests).
Better specifies the Fearon-Laitin culturaldeterminism of underlying social conditions,particularly as such conditions are outcomes of a
postcolonial confluence ofreligion, ethnicity andgeopolitics that Fearon-Laitin categorizes as:
political(bureaucratic weakness, conflictualformal and informal institutional roles, ethnic grouprelative to the national arena),
economic (financial weakness), and
sociocultural(the extent to which differentidentities overlap with or crosscut each other,
loyalties).
7/31/2019 Boko Haram as MetaAxiological Dilemma, WVSU Faculty Lecture 2012
17/26
7/31/2019 Boko Haram as MetaAxiological Dilemma, WVSU Faculty Lecture 2012
18/26
economicDespite Nigerias oil wealth, February 2012 figuresreleased in Abuja indicate that poverty has increasedsince 2004. Overall, 60 percent live on less than $1 aday. And, in the North, Boko Harams stronghold,about 75 percent of the population is considered
poor. Every citizen appears aware of the glaringcontrast between his or her own life and those of theelite. According to Jason Burke, reporter for theGuardian (UK), it is relative, not absolutedeprivation, which is key. Three times as many
northern Muslims as southern Christians are poor.Northern demographics evidence a "youth bulge" ofmillions of young men with few prospects oremployable skills.
Adam Nossiter. In Nigeria, a Deadly Groups Rage Has Local Roots. Retrieved from the New York Times Onlinehttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.htmlon 25February 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.html7/31/2019 Boko Haram as MetaAxiological Dilemma, WVSU Faculty Lecture 2012
19/26
sociocultural--
Despite its bombing of a United Nationsheadquarters in Abuja, Boko Haram is not theimported, foreign menace Nigerianauthorities depict it to be. In its battle againstthe Nigerian government, Boko Harams targets
remain largely local. Strong religious but comparatively weak ethnic
identities in the North signal a more profoundcollision of opposing social forces for
predominance over social organization,structure, and their underlying patterns ofinteractions within an ascribed geopoliticalspace.
Adam Nossiter. In Nigeria, a Deadly Groups Rage Has Local Roots. Retrieved from the New York Times Online
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.html on 25 February 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.html7/31/2019 Boko Haram as MetaAxiological Dilemma, WVSU Faculty Lecture 2012
20/26
that complex whole ofcapabilities and habitsacquired by man as a member of society. (Tylor, 1871)
asocial productformed through externalization,
objectification and internalization. (Berger, 1969)
patternedmeanings and conceptions historically
transmitted and expressed through symbols that
communicate, develop and perpetuate knowledgeabout and attitudes toward life. (Geertz, 1973:89)
the learned repertoire of every transmissible thought
and action. (Benton, 1982)
7/31/2019 Boko Haram as MetaAxiological Dilemma, WVSU Faculty Lecture 2012
21/26
sharedunderstandingsthat people employto coordinate their activities.(Becker, 1986)
organizedbehaviorlearned from a social
group either through training or by imitation.(Jackson, 1993:170)
the expressive side of human life.
(Griswold, 1994)
a way of life
(textbook favorite)
7/31/2019 Boko Haram as MetaAxiological Dilemma, WVSU Faculty Lecture 2012
22/26
a historically transmitted
cybernetic process ofhuman development
wherein shared
cosmological
perspectives and
idiosyncratic ontological
references comprise an
axiological set thatstructures and orders
social agency within a
well-specified, commonly
shared geographic space.
7/31/2019 Boko Haram as MetaAxiological Dilemma, WVSU Faculty Lecture 2012
23/26
Boko Haram insurgency represents an ongoingpostcolonial battle between diametric culturalidentities:Islamic(Boko Haram) and Western(Western-styled and -influenced government,Western-trained state apparatus -- military,police)
Boko Haram insurgency represents a17-yearresurgence to reclaim Northern Nigeria fromcenturies of meta-axiological dilemma.
Boko Haram insurgency demonstrates theubiquity, rootedness and strength of Islamicidentity among Northern Nigeria ethnic groups.
7/31/2019 Boko Haram as MetaAxiological Dilemma, WVSU Faculty Lecture 2012
24/26
Boko Haram insurgency offers identityformation as an intervening variable2 that shedslight on how Islam as an exogenously imposed
culturalinfluence on Northern ethnic groups(e.g., the Hausa-Fulani, Kanuri, Kanembu, Bolewa,Shwa-Arab) meaningfully relates to the objectivesof ethno-religious conflict.
Boko Haram insurgency appears to be anAfrican manifestation of the Islamic culturalbeliefs.
2 Intervening variable in theFearon-Laitin hypothesis.
7/31/2019 Boko Haram as MetaAxiological Dilemma, WVSU Faculty Lecture 2012
25/26
It is a rational praxeological response tonormalize incongruent, antipodal axiologicalsets and identities (meta-axiologicaldilemma) by establishing an cultural modelof social reality with moral - evaluativecriteria for social agency whose rationalityobtains only in Islamic (non-Western) socialorganization.
AQuran-based axiological setis tostructure social agency within NorthernNigeria social space and support humandevelopment along Islamic lines.
7/31/2019 Boko Haram as MetaAxiological Dilemma, WVSU Faculty Lecture 2012
26/26