Description
This paper explores the closely knit yet complex link between proscription and temporality through the examination of terrorism trials in Nigeria. Through the notion of proscribing time this paper demonstrates the ways in which proscription is enacted, imagined, and contested in light of important temporal implications. While proscription is notably meagrely discussed in relation to other well-known counter-terrorism tools such as military force – and despite a growing number of significant multi- and inter-disciplinary interventions – debates around proscription remain almost exclusively focused on the banning of particular individuals or groups linked to terrorism. This ‘actor-oriented’ focus, I argue, reinforces certain theoretical and ontological commitments recognisable in dominant analysis of terrorism, along with the limitations that this entails. Moreover, such a perspective is predominantly organised around a forward-oriented logic of security preemption which, I also argue in this article, does not fully reveal the complexity and broader consequences of proscription.
Thus, drawing upon relevant insights about temporality especially as discussed in critical security studies, (critical) legal studies and beyond, this paper demonstrates how time is proscribed (rather than terrorist groups) to render visible the complexity and effects of proscription by examining terrorism trials in Nigeria, including the so-called Kainji trials. Specifically, by moving beyond actor-centred perspectives prevalent in much recent works on proscription, I illustrate the centrality – and complexity – of time and temporality in (legal) articulations of proscription, as well as the ways in which these are re-produced through language and labelling in juridical processes. The paper as such contributes theoretically to ongoing debates about proscription, and temporality in critical security studies more broadly. It also, empirically, make a worthwhile contribution to a relatively small, though important, scholarship on terrorism trials in Nigeria.
