Discursive construction of the farmer-pastoralist conflict in Nigeria

Cletus Famous Nwankwo

doi:10.1515/openps-2021-0014

Abstract

Abstract The farmer-pastoralist conflict (FPC) in Nigeria has aggravated in recent years. It generated intense debate between 2015 and 2018 because of the aggravation of the conflict and the increased fatalities associated with it. This paper analyses the media representation of the conflict. Data were newspapers’ editorials and regular columnists’ stories and supplemented by government and independent bodies’ reports. Newspapers, as agents of popular culture, play a critical role in the propagation of various discourses of the conflict which seek interpellation and are also contested. This paper shows that the discourse is dichotomous and conflictive between ecological reasoning and ethnic-regional and religious imaginations.

Highlights

The conflict between nomadic Fulani pastoralists and farming folks in rural Africa, especially the West Africa subregion has been a recurring decimal in the last two decades
This paper is about the discourse of the farmer-pastoralists conflict in Nigeria
It shows the discursive battle to produce the meaning of the conflict in environmental security light on the one hand and ethno-regional and religious imaginations, on the other hand, as reflected in the media discourse of the strife

Summary

Introduction

The conflict between nomadic Fulani pastoralists and farming folks in rural Africa, especially the West Africa subregion has been a recurring decimal in the last two decades. The conflict has intensified in recent years and has led to the destruction of property, deaths, and displacement of people in countries such as Ghana, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, among others. This paper is about the discourse of the farmer-pastoralists conflict in Nigeria. It shows the discursive battle to produce the meaning of the conflict in environmental security light on the one hand and ethno-regional and religious imaginations, on the other hand, as reflected in the media discourse of the strife. There has been no serious analysis of the discourse of the conflict, especially regarding the media perspective.

Review of existing literature

The research approaches

Methodology

Data Analysis

The dominant discourse on the conflict: environmental security

Ethno-regional and religious narratives and counter-narratives

Government responses

Conclusion