Searching for Boko Haram

Times Literary Supplement Scott MacEachern's Searching for Boko Haram is an original, arresting and almost beautiful book, which excavates the very distant past to understand what seems.

Natalie Swanepoel, African Archaeological Review This book was not written solely for an audience of archaeologists nor of Africanists, it uses accessible language and takes care to explain terms and concepts that specialist audiences sometimes take for granted ... [MacEachern] has focused on imbuing the story of Boko Haram, and the communities impacted by them, with a historicity that marks the movement not just as an emergency of the moment spurred by current trends in global Islamic fundamentalist philosophy, but also one with deep-rooted connections to a place that has a history and cultural (frontier) logic all its own. In this, he succeeds admirably.

Survival By examining 'the lands of Boko Haram (p.3)... the author successfully debunks the assumption that the territories occupied by Boko Haram are remote and inaccessible... he makes a good case that there is much to be learned by investigating how human landscapes have developed in the region over time.

Survival he makes a good case that there is much to be learned by investigating how human landscapes have developed in the region over time.

Journal of African Archaeology This is a masterful work, with the potential to have an impact beyond academia. It explores in a clear and compelling way an intricate cultural history to offer explanation for a specific case of globalized terrorism: a pressing contemporary issue... A book that explains the present through the past, but also the past through the present. It is time for archaeologists to follow his path and start to intervene in key contemporary debates with the unique perspective of the discipline.

Journal of African History The years spent in the field make this study invaluable for those interested in the Cameroonian dimension of Boko Haram. Indeed, MacEachern has been working as an archaeologist in Northern Cameroon since 1999 and his analysis of the complex and varied Northern Cameroonian societies is extremely well-written. Compared to other scholarship on Boko Haram, this short book is rather unique... In a context where most publications on the region focus solely on the last ten years of the Boko Haram conflict, MacEachern's far-reaching conclusions - despite their Cameroonian focus - bring an archaeological dimension to our understanding of the region.

Social Evolution & History Scott MacEachern's monograph makes a notable contribution to the study of the history of the Lake Chad Basin region in general and to the study of the activities of the militant Boko Haram group in particular. Indeed, the book may take a rightful place among the works of modern historians and social anthropologists.

Scott MacEachern is Professor of Anthropology at Bowdoin College, in Brunswick, Maine. He holds MA and PhD degrees in Archaeology from the University of Calgary. He has done archaeological research in Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, the United States, and Canada, and travelled extensively in Africa.

Chapter 1 - Introduction/Chronological Guide Chapter 2 - Deep Time, Modern Consequences Chapter 3 - Making the Mountains Chapter 4 - Frontiers and Enslavement Chapter 5 - Coupeurs de Route and Douaniers-Combattantes Chapter 6 - Understanding Boko Haram Chapter 7 - ConclusionsSelected Readings