'We Have Captured Your Women': Explaining Shifts and Shocks in Jihadist Violence

Open to the Public

In recent years, jihadist groups across the Muslim world have engaged in new and more intense types of violence than they have in previous years, including uniquely sadistic forms of violence against women. In order to explain this evolution in jihadist violence, the speaker examines key trigger points that initiated this change in their behavior by looking at the cases of Pakistan, Iraq, and Nigeria.

Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.

Date: Thu, Oct 27, 2016 Time: 12:15pm - 02:00pm Location: Littauer Building - Belfer Center Library, Room 369

Boko Haram has been waging war in northern Nigeria since 2002. Starting in 2013, it began kidnapping and trafficking women and girls, including over 200 Chibok schoolgirls as shown above.

In recent years, jihadist groups across the Muslim world have engaged in new and more intense types of violence than they have in previous years, including uniquely sadistic forms of violence against women. This upswing in violence, especially some forms of gendered violence, is both new and inconsistent with previous jihadist norms and actions.

In order to explain this evolution in jihadist violence, the speaker examines key trigger points that initiated this change in their behavior. Looking at the cases of Pakistan, Iraq, and Nigeria, her research analyzes why jihadists have increasingly focused on targeting women as part of their overall war efforts, with careful attention to the causes of this particular transformation in jihadist violence over time. By looking closely at these three archetypal cases, she argues that key intervention trigger points have caused a change in jihadist behavior, prompting these militant groups to engage in more extreme forms of violence than their predecessors. Understanding this violent socialization process is essential for addressing the evolution of jihadist behavior in the future.

Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.