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As part of its Seminar Series, the African Leadership Centre invites you to a double book launch on 'Rage and Carnage in the Name of God' and 'Religion, Public Health and Human Security in Nigeria' with the author of the books, Professor Abiodun Alao.
This is a hybrid event held both in-person and online. If you wish to join online, please use the following webinar link. The event will be followed by a small reception.
In Rage and Carnage in the Name of God, Professor Alao examines the emergence of a culture of religious violence in post-independence Nigeria, where Christianity, Islam, and traditional religions have all been associated with violence. He investigates the root causes and historical evolution of Nigeria’s religious violence, locating it in the forced coming together of disparate ethnic groups under colonial rule, which planted the seeds of discord that religion, elites, and domestic politics exploit.
In Religion, Public Health and Human Security in Nigeria, Professor Alao critically examines the intersection of religion, public health and human security in Nigeria. Focusing on Christianity, Islam, traditional religions and “intra-religious” doctrinal divergencies, the book explores the impact faith has on health-related decisions and how this affects security in Nigeria.
About the speaker
Professor Abiodun Alao
Professor Alao's research focuses on emerging powers and global leadership, the politics of natural resource management, religious radicalisation and political violence, as well as politics, security, and international relations. Apart from extensive publications on African security issues, he has undertaken numerous assignments for international organisations, including the United Nations, African Union, European Union, World Bank, and ECOWAS. In 2000, he was part of the team that undertook a comprehensive Threat Assessment for Rwanda after the genocide, and between 2001 and 2002 he was amongst the team of academic experts that advised the Office of the United Nations Secretary-General on the Civil War in Sierra Leone. He has co-authored the Concept Note for the Common Defence and Security Policy for the Africa Union and also the first post-Civil War National Security Strategy Framework for Liberia.
About the discussants
Dr Akin Iwilade
Dr Iwilade's research deploys critical theoretical lenses to explore the sociality of youth in multiple fields. It explores how the infrastructures of the city and cityness are shaping and being shaped by the corporeal proximities generated by violent crowds. The aim is to understand how the neoliberal city creates the mob, how it disciplines it and what social imaginaries are implicated in these processes. His research also examines how youth are both producers and inhabitants of the temporalities associated with oil extraction in Africa.
Dr Adegbola Ojo
Dr Ojo's research sits at the intersection of humanitarian decision sciences, social justice, and societal prosperity. It seeks to address how states and societies respond to global challenges of social, demographic, and economic change, crime, human security, and globalisation. Key aspects of his research and practice have focused on the ways societies across the world meet human needs for safety, justice, socioeconomic, and governance related policy needs.
About the chairperson
Dr Eka Ikpe
Dr Ikpe is the Director of the African Leadership Centre and Reader in Development Economics in Africa at King's College London. Her research offers a critical understanding of socio-economic transformation processes which advances concept-building that centres spaces in Africa and parts of the Global South across the fields of economic development and peace and security. Eka is Co-Editor of Peace, Society and the State in Africa and African Perspectives of Leadership and Peacebuilding (Bloomsbury Press) and on the editorial boards of Africa Development, African Security Review and Journal of Leadership and Developing Societies. She is on the Research Advisory Committee of Women for Women International.
At this event
Director, African Leadership Centre
Professor of African Studies
Event details
4.06Bush House South East Wing
Strand, London WC2R 1AE