SOAS, University of London (The School of Oriental and African Studies)

Overview

Name:

Mr Barkindo Atta

Email address:

maqseekawase_atta@yahoo.com

Thesis title:

Impunity and Political Violence: Boko Haram in Nigeria Since 1999

Internal Supervisors

• Phil Clark
• Tom Young

PhD Research

Much of the literature devoted to understanding the Boko Haram uprising in north-eastern Nigeria offers a number of possible explanations base on modernization, postcolonial and terrorist-related approaches (Morrison and Stevenson, 1972:89, Chazan et al, 1999:14-30, Forest, 2012). Equally important is the fact that most of the investigations are centered on the “emergence” of Boko Haram rather than its “transformation” into an extremist militant movement. Considering the time frame and the political events that have emerged in Nigeria since the country’s return to multiparty democracy in 1999, the research shifts the theoretical debate away from the problem of “cause” or “emergence” of Boko Haram to the larger debates of its “transformation” into a militant group.

PhD Publications

• Under the Shadow of Impunity: The Politics of Transitional Justice and Political Violence in North-Eastern Nigeria, 1999-date
• Ibn Taymiyya’s Concept of Legitimate Political Authority in Islam and the Challenge of Democracy in Islamic Countries

PhD Conferences

• International Education Week, St. Mary’s University, San Antonio, Texas, USA (November 11-16, 2012)
• Africa Arguments Debate: Rwanda, Congo and the M23, Explaining Violence in the Eastern DRC, 27 November.

PhD Affiliations

International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, (ICPVTR), Singapore