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Gender and the Enactment of Suicide Bombings by Boko Haram Southern Illinois University Carbondale OpenSIUC Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 8-1-2019 Gender and the Enactment of Suicide Bombings by Boko Haram Jordan N. Galehan Southern Illinois University Carbondale, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/dissertations Recommended Citation Galehan, Jordan N., "Gender and the Enactment of Suicide Bombings by Boko Haram" (2019). Dissertations. 1709. https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/dissertations/1709 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at OpenSIUC. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of OpenSIUC. For more information, please contact [email protected]. GENDER AND THE ENACTMENT OF SUICIDE BOMBINGS BY BOKO HARAM by Jordan N. Galehan B.A., Oglethorpe University, 2013 M.A., Georgia State University, 2015 A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice in the Graduate School Southern Illinois University Carbondale August 2019 Copyright by Jordan N Galehan, 2019 All Rights Reserved DISSERTATION APPROVAL GENDER AND THE ENACTMENT OF SUICIDE BOMBINGS BY BOKO HARAM by Jordan N Galehan A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy In the field of Criminology and Criminal Justice Approved by: Christopher Mullins, Chair Raymund Narag Breanne Pleggenkuhle Bryan Bubolz Rachel Whaley Graduate School Southern Illinois University Carbondale June 6, 2019 AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION OF Jordan Galehan, for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice, presented on June 6, 2019, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: GENDER AND THE ENACTMENT OF SUICIDE BOMBINGS BY BOKO HARAM MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Christopher Mullins The Boko Haram terror group has utilized more women as suicide bombers than any other group in history. While prior research has examined why this phenomenon is occurring, and what makes Boko Haram a unique terror group, the present study examines how these attacks are being perpetrated, or enacted, by the female bombers. Utilizing the Global Terrorism Database (GTD), which is the largest terrorism incident database available, the study examined the incidents of female suicide bombings perpetrated by Boko Haram. The open-sourced citations provided by the GTD were compiled and turned into a complementary qualitative dataset. Overall, there were 151 incidents of female suicide bombings by Boko Haram between 2014 and 2017, of which 102 were included in the final sample for the study. Results of content analysis indicate that there are similarities between the perpetration of suicide bombings by females and other acts of crime, violence, and terrorist acts committed by other women, but there are also distinct differences. The cultural and social constructs of the region create a unique situation for Boko Haram compared to other terrorist groups that have deployed the female suicide bombing tactic; however, these features also make it difficult to flesh out the overarching issues of coercion, victimization, and kidnapping that the group heavily relies on. Though the ways in which the suicide attacks are enacted can be examined, at this point, it is still unclear whether the young women and girls perpetrating the attacks are acting out of their own volition, high levels of coercion, or a blend of the two. i DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to the person who showed me my own strength. Thank you. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my great appreciation to those who supported me throughout the dissertation process. First and foremost, I would like to thank my committee chair, Dr. Christopher Mullins, for being the best mentor and advisor I could have had. Without his constant feedback, understanding, guidance, support, expertise, and countless hours of time, I could not have accomplished this task. I would also like to thank my other committee members, Dr. Raymund Narag, Dr. Breanne Pleggenkuhle, Dr. Bryan Bubolz, and Dr. Rachel Whaley. Each member provided their own unique and thoughtful contribution to the completion of this work, and I am very grateful. I would also like to thank my fellow colleagues. The comradery and support I received, whether it was talking through personal or professional challenges, working out theoretical and methodological blocks, or being a source of inspiration, stress-relief and laughter, were essential to the completion of this work. A special thanks to Dr. Monica Summers and Sou Lee. Finally, I would like to give gratitude to my family for their unwavering support. You all experienced and endured the rollercoaster ride of this process more than anyone, but always remained positive and unwavering in your loyalty. No matter how big the challenge, you all stood by my side and helped anyway you could. This accomplishment was no less than a team effort. I cannot express my appreciation enough to each of you. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………………… i DEDICATION………………………………………………………………………………….. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS………………………………………………………………………. iii LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………………... v CHAPTERS CHAPTER 1 - Introduction……………………………………………………………… 1 CHAPTER 2 - Gender Theory in the Context of Political Violence…………………… 17 CHAPTER 3 - Women, Gender, and Violence ………………….…….……………… 31 CHAPTER 4 - Women in Terrorism ………………………………………...………… 49 CHAPTER 5 - Data and Methods ……………………………………………………… 70 CHAPTER 6 - Analysis ………………………………………………………………....79 CHAPTER 7 - Findings ………………………………………………………………... 99 CHAPTER 8 - Discussion ……………………………….…………………………… 129 CHAPTER 9 - Conclusion ………………………………………………………….… 155 REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………………161 APPENDIX A - Global Terrorism Database Codebook: Inclusion Criteria and Variables ….. 169 APPENDIX B - Open Codes……………………………………………………………….… 174 APPENDIX C - Coded Age of Bomber ……………………………………………………… 176 APPENDIX D - Coded Time of Female Suicide Bombing Incident …………………………. 178 VITA……………………………………………………………………………………………181 iv LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE PAGE Figure 1 – Female suicide bomb incidents by year …………….........………………………....... 3 Figure 2 – Female suicide bombing incidents by country …………….…..........……………...... 9 Figure 3 – Female suicide bombers by region …………................................…………………. 10 Figure 4 – Examples and classifications of open-sourced news cites .………………………..... 12 Figure 5 – Suicide bombing targets by gender …………....................………………………… 81 Figure 6 – Female suicide bomber age by month and year of attack …………………………. 86 Figure 7 – Female suicide bombings by time of day and month & year ………………………. 88 Figure 8 – Female suicide bombing attacks by time of day and age of bomber ….…………… 88 Figure 9 – Causal Chain of successful bombing attacks ……………………………………… 91 Figure 10 – Number of incidents by gender and number of perpetrators ……….……………... 94 Figure 11 – Cognitive map of stopped/intercepted female bombers ……….………………….. 96 Figure 12 – Causal chain of intercepted bombers: response & reaction ………………………. 96 Figure 13 – Boko Haram’s male and female bombers by month and year …………………… 151 v CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Female participation in terrorism and political violence is not a new phenomenon, as can be seen in the early female fighters of Islam (mujahidaat)1 (Qazi, 2012) and the female assassins in nineteenth century Russia2 (Hilbrenner, 2016), though scholars note that participation in armed conflict has not “significantly altered their social status within their respective societies” (Qazi, 2012). Terrorist organizations have employed women in a multitude of roles throughout history, including logistical, recruiting, fundraising, and less often leadership positions in various organizations (Cragin & Daly, 2009). A shift in how terrorist organizations operate and the roles available to women is occurring, however (Rapoport, 2002). Since the 1980s, terrorist organizations have increasingly been using women in more operative positions to gain a tactical advantage and for strategic purposes, the most common being the role of a suicide bomber. Sources indicate that the first female suicide bombing was in 1985 by a sixteen-year-old girl affiliated with the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) on an Israeli Defense Force convoy (Bloom, 2005; Zedalis, 2004). Since then, women have been suicide bombers for other groups and causes, but each conflict seems to have its own variation for female involvement and 1 Qazi (2012) discusses how Muslim women in Arabia during the seventh-century tended to the wounded and we in charge of protecting their homes while the men were away for battle. In a few cases, some women were trained and participated in the armed conflict with the men. Most often, however, the women’s role in battle was limited to caring for the wounded and protecting their homes, though they also contributed to furthering the nationalist ideologies and ensuring the survival of the faith. 2 As Hilbrenner (2016) discusses, the two most well-known cases of early female terrorist involvement in Russia, which played a direct role in later terrorist activities in Russia, are Vera Zasulich and Sofia Perovskaia. In 1878, Zasulich attempted to assassinate General governor Fedor Trepov, while Perovskaia is said to be the mastermind behind Tsar Alexander II’s assassination in 1881. The actions of these two women
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