Terrorism, Gendered Violence and Resistance

Talal Asad (2007: 40) in his book, On Suicide Bombing, poses a fundamental question: “Why did he do this terrible thing?” (Italics original). This SSHRC-funded research inverts Asad’s question: Why did she refuse to do this terrible thing? This presentation focuses on the agentic and gender(ed) dimensions of female suicide terrorism. Much contemporary scholarship draws on data garnered from families and associates of suicide terrorists. This presentation uses primary qualitative data garnered through interviews with former sex slaves and suicide bombing candidates of Boko Haram to understand the organizational dynamics behind female suicide terrorism and the contours of resistance to terrorists. How do female terrorist captives, who managed to escape serving as human bombs, make sense of their experiences? What are the policy implications of the lived experiences of such women and girls? The presentation highlights the stages in the suicide-bomber deployment process, women’s resistance against terrorism and implications for the sociology of crime.