Full Description
This collection focuses on the rise of vigilantism and the privatization of armed security in Nigeria from a number of fresh perspectives that move beyond the 'collapsed state' thesis to grasp the more productive and dynamic dimensions of sociality and security both today and during the colonial period. Vigilantism has become an endemic feature of the Nigerian social and political landscape, especially so since the return to democratic rule in 1999. Vigilantes have assumed a status synonymous with the fractured and violence-ridden image of Africa's most populous nation. Beyond fighting crime, vigilante groups such as the O'odua People's Congress, the Bakassi Boys and the shari'a implementation committees represent divergent aspirations for Nigeria's future, and spearhead contemporary political contests over the country's most intractable issues - the politics of democracy, ethnicity and religion.Set against global trends in the privatization of policing, and emergent forms of armed insurgency across the African continent, this collection draws on anthropological and historical perspectives to situate vigilantism within historical trajectories, and within localized idioms of power, knowledge and accountability.
Contents
1. The Politics of ProtectionDavid Pratten; 2. A new name for an old practice: vigilante in South-western Nigeria, Laurent Fourchard; 3. The Search for Security in Muslim northern Nigeria, Murray Last; 4. 'The Thief Eats His Shame': Practice and Power in Nigerian Vigilantism, David Pratten; 5. 'Without women, nothing can succeed': Yoruba women in the Oodua Peoples' Congress (OPC), Nigeria, Insa Nolte; 6. Social mobilisation and collective violence: vigilantes and militias in the lowlands of Plateau State, central Nigeria, Adam Higazi; 7. Gender, hisbah and the enforcement of morality in northern Nigeria, Fatima L Adamu.
