The Video Proves They’re All Cannibals: The Weaponisation of Ritualistic Cannibalism in Cameroon’s and Nigeria’s (Anti) Separatist Propaganda

Authors : Floribert Patrick C. Endong

Pages : 285-308

Doi:10.46250/kulturder.1681252

View : 93 | Download : 69

Publication Date : 2025-06-10

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :For some decades now, the Cameroonian and Nigerian governments have been involved in a complex information war against some armed separatist movements operating in their respective countries. This longstanding war has partly been characterised by the use of gloomy Internet videos that represent the separatist fighters as war crimes perpetrators, human right violators, terrorists and barbaric forces. In line with this, the Cameroon and Nigeria governments have, at various points in time, sought to establish separatist movements’ barbarism by deploying some footage of ritualistic cannibalism presumably committed by separatist fighters. The two governments have hinged on such damning – but not always authenticated – online images to justify their demonization of separatism and intensify their military response to secessionism on their national territories. Although a number of authors have focused on the truth-claim of such cannibalism videos, no modicum of scholarly attention has particularly been given to why the aforementioned cannibalism videos have, irrespective of their authenticity, enjoyed a certain popularity and “credibility” among the gullible Cameroonian and Nigerian masses. This paper addresses this understudied issue through two objectives. First, it examines the ways in which both separatist and anti-separatist movements in Cameroon and Nigeria weaponised cannibalism videos in their violent struggles against their opponent. Second, the paper explores the socio-cultural factors that enable the popularity and “credibility” of cannibalism videos among the masses in the two countries.
Keywords : ritüel yamyamlık, ayrılıkçılık, Ambazonia, Biafra yerli halkları, Ambazonia savunma kuvvetleri

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