FLEECOIN Boko Haram Counterinsurgency: Fleeing Men and Boys
Lead Research Organisation:
Aberystwyth University
Department Name: International Politics
Abstract
The FLEECOIN project addresses a serious gap in research on counterinsurgency (COIN): the gendered effects that COIN campaigns
have on the civilian population, and the strategies employed by men and boys to escape the gender-based violence (GBV) related to
COIN. With this innovative focus, and exploring in depth the case study of COIN against Boko Haram (BH) in Nigeria, the project makes
two core contributions to knowledge. First, FLEECOIN contributes to emergent scholarship that amplifies the research focus on GBV
to include the experiences of men and boys. Secondly, this project deepens and nuances our understanding of the effects of states'
COIN campaigns on civilians, and of the coping mechanisms used by vulnerable males in response, especially fleeing. Here, its
primary focus is on understanding flight as a response to COIN by civilian men and adolescent boys. The FLEECOIN research is
designed as a qualitative case study and will involve fieldwork in Nigeria. The major instrument for primary data collection will be indepth
interviews with experts, men and adolescent boys who have fled their communities, soldiers who have taken part in Boko
Haram-related COIN operations, and residents of communities from where men and boys fled. Failure to address the suffering of male
victims during violent conflicts has profound consequences for the survivor because it excludes them from assistance and support.
The research coincides with Horizon Europe work programme cluster 2 "Culture, creativity and inclusive society", specifically
HORIZON-CL2-2022-TRANSFORMATIONS01-05: Gender and social, economic and cultural empowerment, interested in intersections
between gender and other social categories and the cumulative effect of multiple forms of discrimination and disadvantages, and in
how gendered power hierarchies lead to systematic GBV.
have on the civilian population, and the strategies employed by men and boys to escape the gender-based violence (GBV) related to
COIN. With this innovative focus, and exploring in depth the case study of COIN against Boko Haram (BH) in Nigeria, the project makes
two core contributions to knowledge. First, FLEECOIN contributes to emergent scholarship that amplifies the research focus on GBV
to include the experiences of men and boys. Secondly, this project deepens and nuances our understanding of the effects of states'
COIN campaigns on civilians, and of the coping mechanisms used by vulnerable males in response, especially fleeing. Here, its
primary focus is on understanding flight as a response to COIN by civilian men and adolescent boys. The FLEECOIN research is
designed as a qualitative case study and will involve fieldwork in Nigeria. The major instrument for primary data collection will be indepth
interviews with experts, men and adolescent boys who have fled their communities, soldiers who have taken part in Boko
Haram-related COIN operations, and residents of communities from where men and boys fled. Failure to address the suffering of male
victims during violent conflicts has profound consequences for the survivor because it excludes them from assistance and support.
The research coincides with Horizon Europe work programme cluster 2 "Culture, creativity and inclusive society", specifically
HORIZON-CL2-2022-TRANSFORMATIONS01-05: Gender and social, economic and cultural empowerment, interested in intersections
between gender and other social categories and the cumulative effect of multiple forms of discrimination and disadvantages, and in
how gendered power hierarchies lead to systematic GBV.
