Boko Haram and the discourse of mimicry
A critical discourse analysis of media explanations for Boko Haram’s improved video propaganda quality
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12918650 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lauren E Wyszomierski (Georgetown University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 503-515 |
| Publication date | 2015-09-02 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Critical Studies on Terrorism (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1753-9161 • E-ISSN: 1753-9153 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/17539153.2015.1091657 |
| OpenAlex | W2194289189 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 15 |
The Nigeria-based violent non-state actor Boko Haram is increasingly reported on in the news media in relation to the Islamic State, another, more prominent, violent non-state actor. In particular, these comparisons have been drawn within the context of reports on Boko Haram’s recent improvement in video propaganda quality. While the associations with the Islamic State are often warranted, there are broader social consequences when colonial power relations are brought into play. Borrowing an approach from critical discourse analysis, 16 online English-language news articles were read through a postcolonial lens in order to analyse the structural relations of dominance that arise when discussing African non-state actors. The analysis revealed that among the corpus of articles, nine developed a discourse of mimicry, which serves to deny Boko Haram full agency, relegate them to a silenced subaltern status, and ultimately to diminish the sense of threat posed to the dominant geopolitical security paradigm
Boko haram · Context (archaeology · Critical discourse analysis · Discourse analysis · Dominance (genetics · Insurgency · Islam · Linguistics · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · Subaltern · Terrorism · Gender Studies · History · Law · Political Conflict and Governance · Social Media and Politics · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence
Interpreting Text and Image Relations in Violent Extremist Discourse
The digital ethnonation
Othering Terrorism
Securitisation and spaces of terrorism in Kenya’s National Police Service counterterrorism discourse
Critical terrorism studies and postcolonialism
Toward a Skinnerian interpretivist methodological approach for terrorist propaganda
The language of terror
Postcolonial Media Culture in Britain
Authoring Ethnicized Subjects
Transition to Modernity
Critical Discourse Analysis
Media, War, and Propaganda
An Anthropologist's (New?) Dress Code
In other worlds
(Post)Colonialism, Anthropology, and the Magic of Mimesis
Of Mimicry and Man
Critical Discourse Analysis
Of Mimicry and Membership
The Boko Haram Uprising and Islamic Revivalism in Nigeria
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2019 - 2025 (7) |
| Highly cited | No |