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Paper short abstract:

The term 'Killer Herdsmen' is quite common when reporting the conflict between farmers and pastoralists or pastoralist groups in Nigeria. This paper explores the impact of framing/labelling on the increased clashes between herdsmen and sedentary farmers in Nigeria.

Paper long abstract:

In the last few years, 11 African countries have witnessed an increase in conflict between pastoralists and sedentary farmers and among different pastoralist groups. Factors such as climate change, desertification, religion, population expansion, trafficking, terrorism and more recently neo-pastoralism (a new form of armed ownership of cattle) have been highlighted as the reasons for the surge in violence. Although these factors are important in analysing the conflict, the framing of the conflict has made it difficult to understand the dynamics of the conflict and to find a lasting solution to these conflicts especially in countries like Nigeria. For instance, the term ‘killer herdsmen’ often used by some journalists and on social media often depict pastoralists as aggressors thereby resulting in retaliations.

This paper adopts a citizen science approach and a mixed method technique including key informant interviews (24 respondents) and surveys (213 respondents) to understand how the framing of the conflict has impacted on the dynamics. Findings reveal that there is a political motivation behind the framing of the conflict and this has further escalated attacks making conflict resolution more difficult.

To understand the dynamics of the conflict and the effect of framing/labelling in Nigeria, this paper asks the following questions: What factors are most significant in explaining the various forms of pastoral and farmers-herdsmen conflict in Nigeria? To what extent does Neo-patrimonialism explain the farmer-herdsmen conflict in Nigeria? How does labelling particular groups resonate with the groups and what impact does this have on conflict dynamics?