Home > Research > Publications & Outputs > Biafran separatism in post-war Nigeria

Electronic data

Links

Text available via DOI:

View graph of relations

Biafran separatism in post-war Nigeria: Religious identity, intergroup threats, and the (in)compatibility of Christianity and Islam

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

E-pub ahead of print
<mark>Journal publication date</mark>3/12/2024
<mark>Journal</mark>African and Asian Studies
Number of pages31
Publication StatusE-pub ahead of print
Early online date3/12/24
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

The Republic of Biafra was created out of Nigeria on May 30, 1967. Consisting mainly of Igbo Christians, Biafra officially ceased to exist on January 15, 1970, following a 30-month war. Most studies of the contemporary demand among some Igbo people for Biafra’s restoration do not examine its religious dimension, and the minimal research on its religious drivers has paid less attention to the Igbo Christian identity, despite the significant position of Christianity in Igboland and Eastern Nigeria more broadly. Data obtained from July to October 2020 through 21 key informant interviews and 229 questionnaire respondents from Nigeria indicates that the present-day support for Biafra’s restoration is partially motivated by Christian identity, perceived realistic and symbolic threats from Islam and northern Nigerian Muslims, and a notion that Christianity and Islam are incompatible. To address separatism in Nigeria, a strategic response should take its religious drivers into account.