Ezenwa E Olumba
Biographic Data
| ID | 941179 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ezenwa E Olumba |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ezenwa E |
| FAMILY NAME | Olumba |
| SIGNATURE | OLUMBA E E |
| AFFILIATIONS | Royal Holloway University of London |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5512-5992 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 22 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 15 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Mapping the States of Immobility: A Conceptual Model of Migratory Trajectories Across Origin, Transit, and Destination
We will stay-put or die remaining: Why some communities choose active immobility in conflict zones in Nigeria
The staying behaviour of communities in violent conflict zones remains underexplored in migration. This paper investigates why communities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt choose to stay put on their ancestral land, despite having the means to flee, recurring armed attacks, displacement risks, and the absence of state protection. Drawing on focus group discussions conducted in 2022 across Benue and Nasarawa States, and underpinned by the resilience–acces…
Regulating Autonomous Weapon Systems: Searching for African Solutions to Regional and Global Problems
Lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS), while offering strategic advantages in warfare, pose significant ethical, legal, and security risks, especially for countries in the Global South. This article examines how a philosophical perspective, rooted in African ethical and political thought, can enrich regional and global debates on regulating LAWS, which remain dominated by Eurocentric assumptions. The findings of this study, which draw from seco…
Farmer-Herder Crises, Uncivil Discourses and the Politics of Nigeria’s Security Responses
Studies on farmer-herder conflicts using the Critical Discourse Approach often focus on media portrayals of the conflict. However, the interplay between discursive constructions by primordial or ethnic associations, their dissemination through the media, and their potential effects on the conflict remain underexplored. Therefore, this paper examines the potential effects of the primordially driven discourses on farmer-herder crises in Nigeria. Di…
From students to refugees: Students' (im)mobility in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Research on the migratory experiences of people affected by the Russo-Ukraine conflict has mainly focused on Ukrainians, overlooking non-Ukrainians who were also displaced. This article examines how the war shaped the mobility experiences of displaced African students who took refuge in Germany. Using the critical theory of migration control and nativism, the study employs reflexive thematic analysis of qualitative data from 23 African students i…
Trapped in Time and Place: Cognitive Immobility among Diaspora Communities
This article adopts the interpretative phenomenological analysis ( IPA ) approach to explore the phenomenon of cognitive immobility, where individuals remain cognitively trapped in experiences or locations despite elapsed time and physical distance from those events and places. It explores how (im)mobility and life transitions hold people in the past. The study focuses on the cognitive experiences of Mrs Eve, an African-American woman who on her …
The necropolitics of drone bases and use in the African context
This paper critically evaluates the establishment of drone bases and the use of drones in several African countries and territories. Despite the significant financial commitments needed, external forces continue to invest heavily in drone bases and operations across the continent, often promoted for the security of the countries in Africa. Using secondary sources, this paper employs the concept of “necropolitics” to argue that these drone bases, …
Preserving the future through the past: Collective memory and immobility in adversity
While prevailing research on migration predominantly concentrates on individuals fleeing adversities, this approach results in an underrepresentation of communities that exhibit a desire for immobility even in adversity. Thus, the decision of some community members to resist displacement and stay put in communities exposed to adversity, such as violent conflict—eco-violence, is underexplored; this article addresses this gap. In this article, grou…
The Politics of Eco-Violence: Why Is Conflict Escalating in Nigeria's Middle Belt
In Nigeria’s Middle Belt, competition for land and other resources has intensified between nomadic Fulani herders and sedentary farmers. What were initially sporadic conflicts over cropland and water resources have transformed into daily occurrences of mass violence. While extant research centres on the root causes of such conflicts, the reasons for their escalation remain insufficiently understood. This article examines how political development…
The homeless mind in a mobile world: An autoethnographic approach on cognitive immobility in international migration
The migration phenomenon, in which the mind travels ahead of the body, especially among would-be travellers, has received scholarly attention within migration studies. Research in this area has not unpacked the cognitive migration experiences of those who have already moved. This autoethnographic article explores the feelings, thoughts and experiences of an individual living abroad in the United Kingdom but cognitively imprisoned at his ancestral…
Anchored in History: Understanding the Persistence of Eco-Violence in Nigeria’s Middle Belt through Collective Memory
The Nigerian Middle Belt is the epicentre of violent conflicts between Fulani herders and sedentary farmers over land and agricultural resources called eco-violence; existing research has not adequately addressed the persistence of these conflicts. Using Social Representations Theory (SRT), this paper examines empirical case studies conducted in April 2018 and May 2022 in Benue State, Nigeria, to determine why these conflicts persist. The paper a…
The case for a ‘cognitive turn’ in conflict analysis: Lessons from Afghanistan and the Sahel
This paper advocates for an integrated approach to exploring and analysing contemporary conflicts, especially in complex socio-political and cultural contexts. It examines how a framework that incorporates cognitive, socio-political and historical factors can enhance our understanding of these conflicts. Grounded in the ‘cognitive turn’, an idea that advocates combining cognitive and social sciences insights to understand human experiences and ac…
The case for drones in counter-insurgency operations in West African Sahel
The security situation in the Sahel region has been deteriorating with a consistent increase in violence. Despite tens of thousands of international troops in the region for over a decade, little headway has been made in establishing government control over the territory. The ongoing multilateral and large-scale military operations in the region have employed a boots-on-the-ground strategy that has been largely ineffective in stamping out the ins…
Security in the Lake Chad Basin and Sahel region after Idris Déby
Idris Déby’s counterinsurgency in the Lake Chad Basin (LCB) and the Sahel crafted imaginaries of Déby as a bulwark against terrorism in the region. Existing scholarship argues that Deby's death has accentuated insecurity in the region. The study adopts critical analysis and is anchored in the theory of security regionalism; it argues that the politics of Déby as a regional strongman constricted democratic spaces, invited violent opposition, and s…
Conceptualising eco-violence: Moving beyond the multiple labelling of water and agricultural resource conflicts in the Sahel
The conflict over water and agricultural resources within the Sahel of Africa has led to the destruction of lives, property and nature for decades. The extant practice is to label these conflicts with multiple names and conceptualise them as single-issue events. This article illustrates this practice further and highlights some issues associated with such approaches. Existing terms for these conflicts in Africa’s Sahel region are primarily linked…
Conceptualising eco-violence: Moving beyond the multiple labelling of water and agricultural resource conflicts in the Sahel
The conflict over water and agricultural resources within the Sahel of Africa has led to the destruction of lives, property and nature for decades. The extant practice is to label these conflicts with multiple names and conceptualise them as single-issue events. This article illustrates this practice further and highlights some issues associated with such approaches. Existing terms for these conflicts in Africa’s Sahel region are primarily linked…
The Politics of Eco-Violence: Why Is Conflict Escalating in Nigeria's Middle Belt
In Nigeria’s Middle Belt, competition for land and other resources has intensified between nomadic Fulani herders and sedentary farmers. What were initially sporadic conflicts over cropland and water resources have transformed into daily occurrences of mass violence. While extant research centres on the root causes of such conflicts, the reasons for their escalation remain insufficiently understood. This article examines how political development…
Preserving the future through the past: Collective memory and immobility in adversity
While prevailing research on migration predominantly concentrates on individuals fleeing adversities, this approach results in an underrepresentation of communities that exhibit a desire for immobility even in adversity. Thus, the decision of some community members to resist displacement and stay put in communities exposed to adversity, such as violent conflict—eco-violence, is underexplored; this article addresses this gap. In this article, grou…
The case for drones in counter-insurgency operations in West African Sahel
The security situation in the Sahel region has been deteriorating with a consistent increase in violence. Despite tens of thousands of international troops in the region for over a decade, little headway has been made in establishing government control over the territory. The ongoing multilateral and large-scale military operations in the region have employed a boots-on-the-ground strategy that has been largely ineffective in stamping out the ins…
Security in the Lake Chad Basin and Sahel region after Idris Déby
Idris Déby’s counterinsurgency in the Lake Chad Basin (LCB) and the Sahel crafted imaginaries of Déby as a bulwark against terrorism in the region. Existing scholarship argues that Deby's death has accentuated insecurity in the region. The study adopts critical analysis and is anchored in the theory of security regionalism; it argues that the politics of Déby as a regional strongman constricted democratic spaces, invited violent opposition, and s…
The necropolitics of drone bases and use in the African context
This paper critically evaluates the establishment of drone bases and the use of drones in several African countries and territories. Despite the significant financial commitments needed, external forces continue to invest heavily in drone bases and operations across the continent, often promoted for the security of the countries in Africa. Using secondary sources, this paper employs the concept of “necropolitics” to argue that these drone bases, …
Anchored in History: Understanding the Persistence of Eco-Violence in Nigeria’s Middle Belt through Collective Memory
The Nigerian Middle Belt is the epicentre of violent conflicts between Fulani herders and sedentary farmers over land and agricultural resources called eco-violence; existing research has not adequately addressed the persistence of these conflicts. Using Social Representations Theory (SRT), this paper examines empirical case studies conducted in April 2018 and May 2022 in Benue State, Nigeria, to determine why these conflicts persist. The paper a…
The case for a ‘cognitive turn’ in conflict analysis: Lessons from Afghanistan and the Sahel
This paper advocates for an integrated approach to exploring and analysing contemporary conflicts, especially in complex socio-political and cultural contexts. It examines how a framework that incorporates cognitive, socio-political and historical factors can enhance our understanding of these conflicts. Grounded in the ‘cognitive turn’, an idea that advocates combining cognitive and social sciences insights to understand human experiences and ac…
Conceptualising eco-violence: Moving beyond the multiple labelling of water and agricultural resource conflicts in the Sahel
The conflict over water and agricultural resources within the Sahel of Africa has led to the destruction of lives, property and nature for decades. The extant practice is to label these conflicts with multiple names and conceptualise them as single-issue events. This article illustrates this practice further and highlights some issues associated with such approaches. Existing terms for these conflicts in Africa’s Sahel region are primarily linked…
The homeless mind in a mobile world: An autoethnographic approach on cognitive immobility in international migration
The migration phenomenon, in which the mind travels ahead of the body, especially among would-be travellers, has received scholarly attention within migration studies. Research in this area has not unpacked the cognitive migration experiences of those who have already moved. This autoethnographic article explores the feelings, thoughts and experiences of an individual living abroad in the United Kingdom but cognitively imprisoned at his ancestral…
Anchored in History: Understanding the Persistence of Eco-Violence in Nigeria’s Middle Belt through Collective Memory
The Nigerian Middle Belt is the epicentre of violent conflicts between Fulani herders and sedentary farmers over land and agricultural resources called eco-violence; existing research has not adequately addressed the persistence of these conflicts. Using Social Representations Theory (SRT), this paper examines empirical case studies conducted in April 2018 and May 2022 in Benue State, Nigeria, to determine why these conflicts persist. The paper a…
The case for a ‘cognitive turn’ in conflict analysis: Lessons from Afghanistan and the Sahel
This paper advocates for an integrated approach to exploring and analysing contemporary conflicts, especially in complex socio-political and cultural contexts. It examines how a framework that incorporates cognitive, socio-political and historical factors can enhance our understanding of these conflicts. Grounded in the ‘cognitive turn’, an idea that advocates combining cognitive and social sciences insights to understand human experiences and ac…
The case for drones in counter-insurgency operations in West African Sahel
The security situation in the Sahel region has been deteriorating with a consistent increase in violence. Despite tens of thousands of international troops in the region for over a decade, little headway has been made in establishing government control over the territory. The ongoing multilateral and large-scale military operations in the region have employed a boots-on-the-ground strategy that has been largely ineffective in stamping out the ins…
Security in the Lake Chad Basin and Sahel region after Idris Déby
Idris Déby’s counterinsurgency in the Lake Chad Basin (LCB) and the Sahel crafted imaginaries of Déby as a bulwark against terrorism in the region. Existing scholarship argues that Deby's death has accentuated insecurity in the region. The study adopts critical analysis and is anchored in the theory of security regionalism; it argues that the politics of Déby as a regional strongman constricted democratic spaces, invited violent opposition, and s…
Trapped in Time and Place: Cognitive Immobility among Diaspora Communities
This article adopts the interpretative phenomenological analysis ( IPA ) approach to explore the phenomenon of cognitive immobility, where individuals remain cognitively trapped in experiences or locations despite elapsed time and physical distance from those events and places. It explores how (im)mobility and life transitions hold people in the past. The study focuses on the cognitive experiences of Mrs Eve, an African-American woman who on her …
The necropolitics of drone bases and use in the African context
This paper critically evaluates the establishment of drone bases and the use of drones in several African countries and territories. Despite the significant financial commitments needed, external forces continue to invest heavily in drone bases and operations across the continent, often promoted for the security of the countries in Africa. Using secondary sources, this paper employs the concept of “necropolitics” to argue that these drone bases, …
Preserving the future through the past: Collective memory and immobility in adversity
While prevailing research on migration predominantly concentrates on individuals fleeing adversities, this approach results in an underrepresentation of communities that exhibit a desire for immobility even in adversity. Thus, the decision of some community members to resist displacement and stay put in communities exposed to adversity, such as violent conflict—eco-violence, is underexplored; this article addresses this gap. In this article, grou…
The Politics of Eco-Violence: Why Is Conflict Escalating in Nigeria's Middle Belt
In Nigeria’s Middle Belt, competition for land and other resources has intensified between nomadic Fulani herders and sedentary farmers. What were initially sporadic conflicts over cropland and water resources have transformed into daily occurrences of mass violence. While extant research centres on the root causes of such conflicts, the reasons for their escalation remain insufficiently understood. This article examines how political development…
Regulating Autonomous Weapon Systems: Searching for African Solutions to Regional and Global Problems
Lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS), while offering strategic advantages in warfare, pose significant ethical, legal, and security risks, especially for countries in the Global South. This article examines how a philosophical perspective, rooted in African ethical and political thought, can enrich regional and global debates on regulating LAWS, which remain dominated by Eurocentric assumptions. The findings of this study, which draw from seco…
Farmer-Herder Crises, Uncivil Discourses and the Politics of Nigeria’s Security Responses
Studies on farmer-herder conflicts using the Critical Discourse Approach often focus on media portrayals of the conflict. However, the interplay between discursive constructions by primordial or ethnic associations, their dissemination through the media, and their potential effects on the conflict remain underexplored. Therefore, this paper examines the potential effects of the primordially driven discourses on farmer-herder crises in Nigeria. Di…
From students to refugees: Students' (im)mobility in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Research on the migratory experiences of people affected by the Russo-Ukraine conflict has mainly focused on Ukrainians, overlooking non-Ukrainians who were also displaced. This article examines how the war shaped the mobility experiences of displaced African students who took refuge in Germany. Using the critical theory of migration control and nativism, the study employs reflexive thematic analysis of qualitative data from 23 African students i…
Mapping the States of Immobility: A Conceptual Model of Migratory Trajectories Across Origin, Transit, and Destination
We will stay-put or die remaining: Why some communities choose active immobility in conflict zones in Nigeria
The staying behaviour of communities in violent conflict zones remains underexplored in migration. This paper investigates why communities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt choose to stay put on their ancestral land, despite having the means to flee, recurring armed attacks, displacement risks, and the absence of state protection. Drawing on focus group discussions conducted in 2022 across Benue and Nasarawa States, and underpinned by the resilience–acces…
Sociology (11 works) · Law (9 works) · Political science (9 works) · Political economy (8 works) · Politics (7 works) · Development economics (5 works) · Economics (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Psychology (4 works) · Cognition (3 works)