Global Friday Presents

Dr. Temitope Oriola
Associate Professor
Department of Sociology
University of Alberta

ABSTRACT:  This presentation analyzes the framing of the #BringBackOurGirls (#BBOG) movement, which was formed following the kidnapping of 276 high school girls in Chibok, Northeast Nigeria in 2014. Four master frames of the movement are interrogated. The #BBOG movement’s framing is theoretically sound but its immanent problematic is evident in the way its meta-narrative, the state failure frame, has produced a bifurcated response. On one hand, the framing approach increased international attention on the #BBOG struggle but on the other hand, key local political actors or “institutional sovereigns” were alienated. This ultimately impeded state action on the movement’s objective — the rescue of all the schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram. The experience of the #BBOG has implications for social movements. The findings of this study suggest that when it comes to certain local struggles in the global south, activists should “think local” and “act local”.

BIO:  Dr. Temitope Oriola is joint Editor-in-Chief of African Security and associate professor at the University of Alberta. A recipient of the Governor General of Canada Academic Gold Medal, his research focuses on the ascendance of extremist non-state transnational actors. Dr. Oriola’s research focuses on terrorism, particularly in the Lake Chad Basin. This research investigates the intricacies of the ascendance of Boko Haram, the trends and patterns of Boko Haram’s operations, the gender dimensions and the backdrop of global jihadi terrorist trajectories.  Dr. Oriola has published in leading scholarly venues such as Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Third World Quarterly, the British Journal of Criminology, Canadian Journal of Criminology & Criminal Justice, Criminal Justice Ethics and Critical Studies on Terrorism, among others.  His research has received funding from organizations such as the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and the Killam Trusts. Dr. Oriola is a two-time recipient of the prestigious Carnegie African Diaspora fellowship. He is the author of Criminal Resistance? The Politics of Kidnapping Oil Workers (Routledge 2016 [orig. 2013]).

Also available via Livestream

Facebook Page

Webcasts

Global Friday gratefully acknowledges funding from the Dean of CASHS.