‘Bring back our girls’

Abstract

, 276 female students, aged 16-18 years, were kidnapped from an all-girls secondary school in Chibok in northEastern Nigeria by Boko Haram Islamist militants. Boko Haram targeted schools for supposedly teaching 'sinful' Western values and diverting students from traditional Islamic life and teachings. Girls in particular were targeted because, according to Boko Haram Islamic militants, girls and women should be married and not educated. The kidnapped girls were, according to the group's spokesperson, sold into sexual slavery or forced 'marriages' with Boko Haram soldiers (BBC News 2014). Although Chibok was not the first or last Nigerian school to be attacked, burnt and raided, the scale of the kidnapping of girls there was unprecedented and attracted international attention (see BBC News, 2014; Chandler, 2015; Cleven and Curtis, 2015; ABC News 2016). Protests demanding government action were held in Nigeria, and later around the world, including in Western cities such as London and Los Angeles. At this point, the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls had begun to trend worldwide on the social media platform Twitter. Through the digital campaign, activists demanded the Nigerian government do more to recover the kidnapped girls, and ensure access to education and freedom from violence for women and girls in Nigeria. While the first tweet using the #BringBackOurGirls (BBOG) hashtag was posted by Ibrahim Abdullahi, a Nigerian lawyer based in Abuja, it took Twitter and Instagram postings by key Western public figures, such as US First Lady Michelle Obama, and supermodels and actors, such as Cara Delevinge, Emma Watson, Julia Roberts and Keira Knightley, to raise global awareness of the kidnappings and influence national governments (Britain, the US, France and China) to send advisers, including hostage negotiators, and logistical support to Nigeria to assist in the recovery of the missing girls.

Brooms and Ballots: #WitchTheVote, the Nostalgic Internet, and Intersectional Feminist Politics on Instagram

“…For example, #BringBackOurGirls, a campaign started by a Nigerian activist, was meant to bring awareness and condemnation to the kidnapping of thousands of schoolgirls in Nigeria. Hopkins and Louw (2020) describe the hashtag as “ultimately ephemeral and superficial,” pointing to the campaign’s popularity among (predominantly) White female celebrities from “a world over” (p. 67). For them, the hashtag was ultimately more indicative of the contemporary preoccupation with global terrorism than a united front against gender-based violence.…”

Climate change versus winter sports; can athlete climate activism change the score?

“…Athletes are often considered role models by themselves and their fans (De Rycke et al, 2018; Leng and Phua, 2022; Kaufman, 2008). Role-model status, combined with frequent media presence, means professional athletes hold celebrity power potentially acting as agents of social change (Leng and Phua, 2022) especially as celebrities increasingly engage in global causes and the public interprets their experiences through fame (Hopkins and Louw, 2016). While no research exists on athlete-climate activism, research on celebrity participation in environmental activism ranging from intellectuals including David Suzuki, Jane Goodall, David Attenborough and Naomi Klein, to ambassadors like Leonardo DiCaprio or Harrison Ford, to philanthropists and entrepreneurs such as Bill Gates to activists like actress Shailene Woodley to ordinary people like Greta Thunberg suggests celebrities have brought climate change emotionally into the popular cultural sphere (Abidin et al, 2020).…”

“…While a growing body of research investigates athlete activism (Coombs and Cassilo, 2017; Cooper et al, 2019; Jolly et al, 2021; Williams, 2021), celebrity activism (Hopkins and Louw, 2016; Olmedo et al, 2020) and athletes as role models (De Rycke et al, 2018; Edgar, 2021; Leng and Phua, 2022), no research to date examines athlete environmentalists or climate activists. As the climate conversation increasingly incorporates social justice and takes place in highly politicized spaces, this paper uses themes and theories developed in the broader athlete-activist literature to examine the interplay between winter athletes, sport organizations and climate change, specifically investigating 1) what are winter-sport athletes’ self-perceived roles and responsibilities in addressing climate change?…”