My original research plan did not feature Ayede-Ogbese, located about 15 KM outside Akure. Nevertheless, given the connection of my research areas to community livelihoods, I knew I would be making a lot of travels in the rural Southwest. So, during my first time in Ondo State, I stayed mainly in Akure but soon learned […]
The farmer-herder conflict, a pressing issue in Southwest Nigeria, has become one of the deadliest conflicts in the country, surpassing even the Boko Haram insurgency in lethality. This urgent situation has prompted scholars to race to explain its roots, with most explanations rooted in Homer-Dixon’s environmental conflict theory (1994; 2010). Dixon views environmental conflict as […]
Despite being introduced by a leader in the Fulani herders community who was known to the members in Ikare-Akoko, my encounter with them was nearly ruined by suspicion by the herders about my mission. Given the sensitive nature of my research and in the context of a recent security incident, community members, most of whom […]
Despite being introduced by a leader in the Fulani herders community who was known to the members in Ikare-Akoko, my encounter with them was nearly ruined by suspicion by the herders about my mission. Given the sensitive nature of my research and in the context of a recent security incident, community members, most of whom […]
Coincidences—Fieldwork is fundamentally unexpected, and many scholars love it. Others dread it because it may leave research plans in the dust, no matter how well-written. My field visits have coincided with several things, which sometimes led me to secure interviews with unexpected groups, such as when I ran into the Oodua People Congress members in […]