[9th Public Workshop] “Taxing Times: Informal Economies and Religious Conflict in Northern Nigeria” (Co- organized by the 9th Kyoto University African Studies Seminar (KUASS)) (November 16, 2012)

Date: November 16, 2012. 15:00-17:00
Venue: Middle-sized seminar room, 3F Inamori Center, Kyoto University

Program

“Taxing Times: Informal Economies and Religious Conflict in Northern Nigeria”
Dr. Kate Meagher (London School of Economics)

Abstract

This lecture is based on research carried out in northern Nigeria in late 2011, just before the acceleration of terrorist bombing. It examines the role of informal economic activities, which in Nigeria tend to be based on ethnic and religious forms of organization, in exacerbating or mitigating religious conflict. The lecture focuses on three categories of informal activities, characterized by economic interdependence, competition and value conflicts between Christian and Muslim enterprise groups. It examines how the nature of informal economic relations influences inter-religious relations between each of these three categories of enterprises, and considers how government policy contributes to strengthening or undermining positive tendencies, or exacerbating negative processes. In the process, the lecture reveals the underlying basis of religious tension in northern Nigeria, and the social resources available to address it.