The Past In The Present Carnage In North Central Nigeria: The Role Of Collective Memory On Conflict Persistence

The North Central region of Nigeria is the epicentre of violent conflicts over land and agricultural resources. Several plausible causes have been identified, but there are insufficient explanations for how the synergy of political-historical events and collective memory formed the region's violent conflicts up to the present. This paper examined how the region's residents' collective memories, created by political-historical contestations, have influenced the recurrence of violent conflict between herders and farmers by analysing historical accounts using an adapted version of the Rational Choice and Symbolic Political Theory. It argues that the persistence of eco-violence stems from elites' emotions and intuitions, which, in their pursuit of resources to achieve parochial goals, create grievances and inequity, establishing collective memories that amplify ethnic fears and fears of annihilation among diverse groups, resulting in people's desire to address grievances through non-normative collective action. It contends that addressing these collective memories could reduce eco-violence.