Radicalist discourse: a study of the stances of Nigeria's Boko Haram and Somalia's Al Shabaab on Twitter

Chiluwa, Innocent (2015) Radicalist discourse: a study of the stances of Nigeria's Boko Haram and Somalia's Al Shabaab on Twitter. Journal of Multicultural Discourses,.

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Abstract

This study examines the features of stance in tweets downloaded from the English Twitter accounts of Boko Haram and Al Shabaab, referred to as ‘radicalist discourse’. Stance, referred to as ‘positioning’ or point of views of tweeters, is defined in terms of features such as hedges, boosters, attitude markers, self-mention and threats. These express commitment, attitude and judgement of writers on the issues being discussed. Applying mostly qualitative analysis, the study shows that self-mention and attitude markers are the most prevalent features of stance in radicalist discourse. Thus, stance is used to express triumph, satisfaction, anger and hate by the radical groups under study. The various expressions of attitude and self-mention in the data portray positive construction of in-group and negative evaluation of others (i.e. governments and institutions) referred to as infidels and apostates.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	radicalist discourse; stance; Boko Haram; Al Shabaab; tweets; Twitter
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform P Language and Literature > PE English
Divisions:	Faculty of Law, Arts and Social Sciences > School of Humanities
Depositing User:	Mrs Patricia Nwokealisi
Date Deposited:	15 Sep 2016 13:56
Last Modified:	15 Sep 2016 13:56
URI:	http://eprints.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/id/eprint/7199

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