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Project

Backup mandate Research Council: Conflict and film beyond the West: looking at the Boko Haram conflict in the Lake Chad Region through Nigerian film. (OZR3830)

Since 2010, the Boko Haram conflict in the Lake Chad Region, a shared area of Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria, is an ongoing humanitarian crisis. Nigeria is also home to a booming film industry that is becoming a leading player in the global media space. This creates the opportunity to investigate the relations between terrorism, conflict and media beyond the West. In previous studies there has
not been sufficient consideration of terrorism in non-Western countries nor of mass media other than traditional press or social media. Therefor this research connects the Boko Haram conflict to Nigerian film which acts as a popular medium that shapes social life in Nigeria and among diaspora communities. By doing so, the research aligns itself with (post-)colonial cinema and de-westernizing media studies to break with traditional binaries. Moreover, the connection is made according to recent debates rooted in visual politics and critical terrorism for an interdisciplinary understanding of this conflict. Next to film analysis based on ethnographic content analysis, this qualitative research incorporates film production and film reception to move away from purely text-based media studies. This research includes film analysis of Nigerian films, participative observation through visual ethnography on production and reception in the Lake Chad Region, and participatory film production with the
diaspora community. Visuality is used as a research method and way of disseminating knowledge.
Date:1 Nov 2021 →  31 Oct 2022
Keywords:Conflict, Film studies, Visuality
Disciplines:Cultural sociology, Security, peace and conflict, Cultural media, Media discourse reception, Media sociology