Performing terror, communicating fear: Analysing terrorism as performance of violence

Abstract

This study conceptualizes terrorist acts as performance of violence. It concentrates on how Jama’atu Ahlis Sunnah Lida’awati Wal Jihad, a transnational terrorist group commonly known as Boko Haram, stages dramatic spectacles to generate public fear and anxiety by deploying the news media to publicize its activities. Predicated on a conceptual framework consisting of performance theory, news media–terrorism nexus and newsworthiness, the study illustrates how terrorist groups and media organizations exploit each other’s affordances to actualize tactical and strategic goals. The author asserts that terrorist groups command the attention and gaze of diverse audiences by generating newsworthy, conflictual, consequential and impactful contents for news organizations. The study concludes that Boko Haram’s activities are illustrative of terrorism as the communication of symbolic messages through the performance of violence.