In Rage and Carnage in the Name of God, Abiodun Alao examines the emergence of a culture of religious violence in postindependence Nigeria, where Christianity, Islam, and traditional religions have all been associated with violence. He investigates the root causes and historical evolution of Nigeria's religious violence, locating it in the forced coming together of disparate ethnic groups under colonial rule, which planted the seeds of discord that religion, elites, and domestic politics exploit. Alao discusses the histories of Christianity, Islam, and traditional religions in the territory that became Nigeria, the effects of colonization on the role of religion, the development of Islamic radicalization and its relation to Christian violence, the activities of Boko Haram, and how religious violence intermixes with politics and governance. In so doing, he uses religious violence as a way to more fully understand intergroup relations in contemporary Nigeria.
ISBN-13: 9781478018162
Media Type: Paperback
Publisher: Duke University Press
Publication Date: 08-26-2022
Pages: 314
Product Dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.66(d)
Series: Religious Cultures of African and African Diaspora People
Abiodun Alao is Professor of African Studies at King's College London and the author of several books, including A New Narrative for Africa: Voice and Agency, Mugabe and the Politics of Security in Zimbabwe, and Natural Resources and Conflict in Africa: The Tragedy of Endowment.
What People are Saying About This
Religious Pluralism and the Nigerian State - Simeon O. Ilesanmi
“Illuminating the inner dynamics and processes of the radicalization of religion, Abiodun Alao offers a balanced picture of Nigeria’s religious and political terrain, showing how Christianity and Islam are similarly entangled in the mundane rituals of competition for power and the inevitable moral corruption, civil tumult, and physical destruction that often follow. Very few, if any, books combine such a treatment of politics and violence and their relation to religion as comprehensively as Rage and Carnage in the Name of God.”
Yorùbá Elites and Ethnic Politics in Nigeria - Wale Adebanwi
“While most books on religious violence in Nigeria focus on Islam and the violence generated within and beyond its different sects or against the adherents of other religions, this rich work also engages with the violence perpetrated by Christians against Muslims. It remarkably traces the history and contours of religious violence in Nigeria’s postindependence history while elaborating on the difficult process of state-building in the context of generalized violence. Rage and Carnage in the Name of God meets a critical need in the general scholarship on Nigeria and global studies in the age of religion-inspired terrorism.”
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Of Nigeria, Religion, and Violence 1
1. Religion and Nigerian Society 19
2. Islam and Violence in Nigeria 45
3. Christianity and Violence in Nigeria 77
4. Traditional Religions and Violence in Nigeria 101
5. Boko Haram and the New Phase of Violence 115
6. National Politics, Intergroup Relations, and Religious Violence in Nigeria 153
7. The Economics of Religious Violence in Nigeria 189
8. Nigeria's Religious Violence in the Context of Global Politics 207
Conclusion: The Impossibility of the Best and the Unlikelihood of the Worst 225
Notes 239
Bibliography 267
Index 285
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