Reiteration or reinvention? Jihadi governance and gender practices in the Sahel

Abstract

Can focusing on gender help us to better understand the mobilization capacity of jihadi insurgent groups and their social roots in the Sahel? A growing literature has explored the factors that motivate people to join such groups in Africa. The Sahel provides a salient case, but the prevalent focus on agent-based explanations has tended to overlook the role of gender relations and constructions. This article explores the potential of practice theory to shed light on intersubjective rules, roles, and meanings and whether and how gender influences jihadi mobilization in the Sahel. The study contributes to the feminist security studies literature by looking at gender relations and investigating whether it is the reassertion (practice homology) or emerging misalignment (practice hysteresis) of Fulani gender practices that best characterizes the acceptance and/or rejection of jihadi governance by men and women in the Sahel. The article discusses empirical evidence collected during extensive fieldwork in Mali and Niger. We suggest that in strategically choosing to either reproduce or reshape traditional gender practices, jihadi insurgencies linked to Islamic State and al-Qaeda in the Fulani milieu of the central Sahel gain popular support.