Scott MacEachern is Professor of Anthropology at Bowdoin College, in Brunswick, Maine. He holds MA and PhD degrees in Archaeology from the University of Calgary. He has done archaeological research in Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, the United States, and Canada, and travelled extensively in Africa.

"Scott MacEachern's Searching for Boko Haram is an original, arresting and almost beautiful book, which excavates the very distant past to understand what seems." -- Times Literary Supplement

"This book was not written solely for an audience of archaeologists nor of Africanists, it uses accessible language and takes care to explain terms and concepts that specialist audiences sometimes take for granted ... [MacEachern] has focused on imbuing the story of Boko Haram, and the communities impacted by them, with a historicity that marks the movement not just as an emergency of the moment spurred by current trends in global Islamic fundamentalist philosophy, but also one with deep-rooted connections to a place that has a history and cultural (frontier) logic all its own. In this, he succeeds admirably." -- Natalie Swanepoel, African Archaeological Review

"By examining 'the lands of Boko Haram (p.3)... the author successfully debunks the assumption that the territories occupied by Boko Haram are remote and inaccessible... he makes a good case that there is much to be learned by investigating how human landscapes have developed in the region over time." -- Survival

"Scott MacEachern's monograph makes a notable contribution to the study of the history of the Lake Chad Basin region in general and to the study of the activities of the militant Boko Haram group in particular. Indeed, the book may take a rightful place among the works of modern historians and social anthropologists." -- Social Evolution & History

"The years spent in the field make this study invaluable for those interested in the Cameroonian dimension of Boko Haram. Indeed, MacEachern has been working as an archaeologist in Northern Cameroon since 1999 and his analysis of the complex and varied Northern Cameroonian societies is extremely well-written. Compared to other scholarship on Boko Haram, this short book is rather unique... In a context where most publications on the region focus solely on the last ten years of the Boko Haram conflict, MacEachern's far-reaching conclusions - despite their Cameroonian focus - bring an archaeological dimension to our understanding of the region." -- Journal of African History

"This is a masterful work, with the potential to have an impact beyond academia. It explores in a clear and compelling way an intricate cultural history to offer explanation for a specific case of globalized terrorism: a pressing contemporary issue... A book that explains the present through the past, but also the past through the present. It is time for archaeologists to follow his path and start to intervene in key contemporary debates with the unique perspective of the discipline." -- Journal of African Archaeology

Scott MacEachern's monograph makes a notable contribution to the study of the history of the Lake Chad Basin region in general and to the study of the activities of the militant Boko Haram group in particular. Indeed, the book may take a rightful place among the works of modern historians and social anthropologists." -- Social Evolution & History

"MacEachern's work will be useful for specialists in a variety of fields."--Publisher's Weekly

"[E]xceptional....Offer[s] significant new insights into the rise of jihadist violence in Africa."--Foreign Affairs

"In the present turbulent world, the focus that Scott MacEachern brings to 'frontiers,' and to the long history of the 'extraordinary landscapes' which they cross in changing ways over 'deep time,' is deeply informative about the Lake Chad Basin and Boko Haram, while also offering a rich example of the kind of empirical study to be undertaken elsewhere in the world."--Jane Guyer, Johns Hopkins University

"Drawing upon his deep expertise and extensive fieldwork along the Nigeria-Cameroon frontier, Scott MacEachern takes a fresh and innovative look at Boko Haram: one of the world's deadliest terrorist groups. Through a finely-tuned historical and cultural lens, MacEachern skillfully contextualizes the emergence of Boko Haram. In doing so, he adds a long-awaited foundational layer to our understanding of a group that continues to grab global headlines."--Matthew T. Page, author of Nigeria: What Everyone Needs to Know

"Usually archaeologists write about a remote past with few links to the present. But in the case of Boko Haram in North Nigeria, Scott MacEachern shows how a problem of our times, violent extremism, is better understood through its deep roots in not only the history, but also the prehistory of the south Chad basin, the border area between Nigeria, Cameroon, and Chad. The long-term ecological and political processes of these frontier lands resonate in the dynamics of this jihadist movement, and the distant past offers surprising insights into the present. Written with refreshing clarity and an intense personal engagement, this book offers a crucial analysis of the role of frontier areas in jihadism."--Walter E. A. van Beek, University of Leiden