Religious Dislocation, Socio-economic Dysfunction and the Politics of Terrorism in Ahmed Yerima's Heart of Stone
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Date
2020-03
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Abstract
This study takes a critical look at Nigeria’s religious pedagogy, as dispensed by her numerous “custodians of religious episteme” vis-a-vis the socio-economic dysfunction that is the Achilles heel of the nation, and the influence of this dual phenomena on the exponential rendering of terrorism in the nation in recent time, as emblematised by Ahmed Yerima’s Heart of Stone. The study adopts the descriptive and contents analysis methodologies, with additional references to published books, journal articles, media resources, such as newspapers, magazines and internet materials. We have discovered that terrorism is employed by its culprits as a political instrument, among others, to “force” the attention of a negligent political elite to the precarious situation of the less privileged in the society, albeit in a most horrific and condemnable way. Equally, the study finds that the impartation of distorted religious episteme, which tends to “zombify” the youth makes them easily amenable to radicalisation, thus exposing them as ready recruits into terrorism, with its consequential hardness of heart. It is, therefore, our conclusion that terrorism seems to be on the increase due to religious indoctrination and perceived imbalances in the nation’s socio-economic systems. Consequently, the paper suggests that a more realistic counter terrorism strategy will be a
multilayer approach of “carrot and stick” – military counterattack, sensitivity of the political elite to socio-economic plight of the masses, pressure on religious scholars to model their pedagogy along the truth and national interest and necessary dialogue with aggrieved personages and groups.
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The paper traces the causes of terrorism and how the youth in particular have become the targets of recruiters and suggests some possible solutions.
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Agboola, M.O. (2020). Religious dislocation, socio-economic dysfunction and the politics of terrorisn in Ahmed yerima's heart of stone. International Journal of Integrative Humanism, 12(1), 107-120. Published by the Department of Classics, University of Cape Coast, Ghana.