< Back to previous page

Project

Towards the Survival and Recovery Practices of Boko Haram’s Victims: A Case Study from the International Christian Centre, Edo-State, Nigeria

This research that will be carried out at the International Christian Centre, Edo- State, aims at engaging with the effects of the ongoing Boko Haram’s violence and trauma on youngsters, especially young women and men and children at the Centre. Focusing on its effects, this research seeks to examine the connection between trauma and violence and the imperative for reintegration and rehabilitation. Furthermore, it delves into the articulation of ‘remembering’ and ‘forgetting’ of violence and trauma through the experiences and the ‘practices of memorialization’ by Boko Haram’s (youthful) victims at the Centre. By this, we mean the multiplicities of ways in which Boko Haram’s victims work through past hatreds, and resentments in view of making sense of their present predicaments (Assmann and Shortt 2012). In the light of the above, this research will be guided by the following questions: How does the experience of war/violence induce collective trauma and its attendant memorialization/forgetting among the victims of Boko Haram? What are the impacts of Boko Haram’s violence on its victims, especially young women and men and children at the International Christian Centre? What are the associations between Boko Haram’s violence and gender among (northern) Nigerian victims of Boko Haram? How do post-trauma societies deal with the legacy of a violent past? What are the benefits of remembering and/or forgetting for coping with such an experience? To what extent does reintegration and rehabilitation take place in situation of the ongoing Boko Haram violence or, by contrast, in situations of formal peace? How do the practices or the role of the church, academic activities, ‘peace education’, recreational events, entrepreneurial occasion and socio-cultural activities influence remembering and forgetting of violence and trauma? In particular, how do the church, healthcare workers, traditional institutions manage the transition of Boko Haram’s victims from violence and trauma to recovery, and the extent to which representatives from the Church or victims of Boko Haram become effective or marginalized players in the reintegration and rehabilitation processes?

Date:17 Apr 2018 →  17 Apr 2022
Keywords:Rehabilitation, Reintegration, Development, Youths, Social Memory, Trauma, Violence, International Christian Centre
Disciplines:Anthropology
Project type:PhD project