Short Abstract

Despite thousands of works on Boko Haram, knowledge about the movement's origins, motivations, and continued transformation remains incomplete. This panel demands a rethink of older understandings of Boko Haram, and proposes new approaches to the continued study of the movement.

Long Abstract

Since the early 2000s, the jihadist group Boko Haram has been the subject of thousands of works by journalists, intelligence and NGO officers, and academic writers. Yet due to recycled themes, stale narratives, and fragmented sources, knowledge about the movement's origins, motivations, and continued transformation remains incomplete.

This panel’s theme is inspired by and shares the same title as the edited book Rethinking Boko Haram: The Evolution of a Jihadist Group Since 2015 published by Indiana University Press in November 2026. It argues that we need to rethink the established and older understandings of Boko Haram's religious, political, social, and economic dimensions, and proposes new concepts and approaches to the continued study of the movement. This panel welcomes papers that deploy firsthand accounts, primary source materials, and fieldwork alongside theoretical approaches to present a new understanding of Boko Haram, from its interactions with the Nigerian military to its more recent adaptations for survival in the face of dwindling local support, climate change, and attempts to build administrations and alliances.

Rethinking Boko Haram invites papers that reconceptualize the movement's core elements, revisit its religious motivations, and better understand its possible future.

This Panel has 1 pending paper proposal.
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