Exploring the nexus between faith-based education and violent conflict: Islamic education and northeast Nigeria’s Boko Haram crisis

2020-ongoing

Project status: Current

Funded by: British Academy “Humanities and Social Sciences Tackling Global Challenges” Grant

Connecting the field of conflict and education studies with scholarship on Islamic education, this research sheds new light on the nexus between faith-based education and violent conflict, while providing urgently needed insights into the dynamics of Nigeria’s Boko Haram conflict. After a decade of violence, this remains one of the world’s least understood conflicts. In a global context of widespread fears over Islamic militancy, Islamic schools have often been met with suspicion. Few scholars have investigated how such schools are affected by violence, or how they could help prevent conflict and contribute to peacebuilding.

Drawing on in-depth interviews and focus groups with relevant stakeholders and key informants in Borno and Yobe States in northeastern Nigeria, this research explores what place education-related injustices have played for the Boko Haram conflict. It documents the legacies of decade-long violence for faith-based education and develops propositions for faith-based education for sustainable peace.

Project members:

  • Dr Hannah Hoechner (PI)
  • Prof Yagana Bukar (Co-PI, University of Maiduguri)

Photo Credits: Fiona Lovatt

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