New Book on Boko Haram

[Moses Ebe Ochonu]

I'm happy to announce the publication of my new book, Boko Haram: The Past of the Present Upheaval (The University of California Press, 2026):

https://www.amazon.com/Boko.../dp/0520417690/ref=sr_1_1...

Book Abstract:

For many observers, the predation of Boko Haram, unsparing and venal in its manifestation, is shocking, and it seems to lack a local historical frame of reference that would help make it understandable. For others, Boko Haram’s self-declared jihad resonates within a long, local, contested historical memory of religious militancy. This book makes sense of these two seemingly contradictory perceptions. It explains Boko Haram’s simultaneous connection to, and disconnection from, a complex history of religious dissidence and militancy in Northern Nigeria. It also answers the question of where the militants came from, what inspired and motivated them, and whether there is a local history of militant religious rebellion that could both illuminate and challenge Boko Haram’s self-proclaimed jihad. Moses E. Ochonu analyzes the rise and evolution of the Boko Haram movement within and against the contentious religious pasts of Northern Nigeria.

Select blurbs:

“Ochonu’s brilliant and urgent book offers a sweeping, masterful analysis of Boko Haram. Through penetrating research and eloquent insight, he situates the insurgency within northern Nigeria’s longue durée, revealing how history, faith, politics, and global forces converge. Essential, transformative reading for understanding insurgency in Africa and beyond.”—Nwando Achebe, University Distinguished Professor and Jack and Margaret Sweet Endowed Professor of History, Michigan State University 

“This is the first book length study that is historically anchored and comprehensively examines the discourses articulated by Boko Haram, challenging the interpretation that the insurgent group arose due to any given single factor.”—Mohammed Bashir Salau, author of Plantation Slavery in the Sokoto Caliphate: A Historical and Comparative Study

Boko Haram is a unique and important contribution to the literature on this movement as it is a multidimensional study combining and contextualizing intellectual, social, and political developments in northern Nigeria to explain the creation of the insurgency."—Jennifer Lofkrantz, author of Ransoming Prisoners in Precolonial Muslim Western Africa