Combatant Experiences in Multi-Ethnic Extremist Groups: Identity and Allegiance in Boko Haram CSTPV Seminar with Dr Makena Micheni

The talk explores how groups such as Boko Haram navigate ethnically diverse environments and manage to forge a sense of collective homogeneity, even in the face of internal diversity. Drawing from first-hand interviews with ex-fighters and a thorough examination of Boko Haram's operational dynamics—including recruitment, indoctrination, combat leadership, and unit behaviour—the talk will discuss moments when, despite Boko Haram's aim to transcend ethnic boundaries, ethnicity nonetheless becomes a defining factor within specific combatant units. It develops a theoretical framework to explain these instances, building on and extending existing socialization theories to understand when and why socialization processes fail, ultimately causing ethnicity to resurface within these units. By exploring how tribal and ethnic considerations influence the group's functioning, the talk will offer a more nuanced understanding of contemporary insurgent groups and the social forces that shape them.

Dr. Makena Micheni is a Levin Junior Research Fellow at Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford. Her research focuses on terrorism, political violence, identity, resistance, and state coercion. She has conducted extensive fieldwork in Nigeria, Kenya, and Lebanon, using ethnographic and interview-based methods to examine the lived dynamics of conflict. Her current project investigates state terrorism through decolonial and critical security perspectives, with particular attention to its effects on foreign populations. Previously, her work explored the role of ethnicity within insurgent groups in sub-Saharan Africa, analysing how identity shapes cohesion and fragmentation. Across her scholarship, Makena is committed to advancing critical approaches to security studies and bridging academic research with broader policy and societal debates.