Women Of The Somali Diaspora

For nearly two decades, and particularly since the civil war, Somali men, women - and sometimes even children without family - fled the country in droves. This book represents the first attempt to map the social and cultural contours of the Somali diaspora in a global context. Using case studies from Somali communities in Africa, Europe and North America, the contributors to this volume construct a global framework for studying the Somali diaspora - comparing dispersed Somalis in different cultural, economic, political and racial contexts.

Since the final collapse of Somalia's repressive regime in 1991, Somalia has presented the world not only with the most profound case of state collapse witnessed in modern times but also with one of the most intriguing cases of political fragmentation, armed conflicts, lawlessness and statelessness. Inevitably the last 20 years of statelessness and chaos has left the Somali economy destitute and made Somalia to be ranked among the five poorest 'countries' in the world. Contributors to this volume examine efforts at reconstituting the failed Somali state and the role of the Somali Diaspora and civil society groups in the processes. They also analyse how the Somali Diaspora and civil society in Somalia engage and cooperate to further processes of state-reconstitution in Somalia as well as help the Somali Diaspora adjust in their host nations.

Exploring the dynamics of identity formation processes in diasporic spaces, this book analyses how gender, cultural and religious practices are renegotiated in a situation of displacement. The author presents the comparative case study of Somali migrant women in Nairobi and Johannesburg: two cosmopolitan urban hubs in the global South. The book is based on and includes ethnographic observations in Nairobi and Johannesburg, first-person accounts of migration journeys across the African continent and women’s reflections on what it means to be a Somali woman today.

Explores the experiences of women in Somalia and how they have survived the trauma of war.

As a Somali working since high school in the United Arab Emirates, Osman considers himself “blessed” to be in a Muslim country, though citizenship, with the security it offers, remains elusive. For Ardo, smuggled out of Somalia to join her husband in South Africa, insecurities are of a more immediate, physical kind, and her economic prospects and legal status are more uncertain. Adam, in the United States—a destination often imagined as an earthly Eden, or jannah, by so many of his compatriots—now sees heaven in a return to Somalia. The stories of these three people are among the many that emerge from mass migration triggered by the political turmoil and civil war plaguing Somalia since 1988. And they are among the diverse collection presented in eloquent detail in Elusive Jannah, a remarkable portrait of the very different experiences of Somali migrants in the UAE, South Africa, and the United States. Somalis in the UAE, a relatively closed Muslim nation, are a minority within a large South Asian population of labor migrants. In South Africa, they are part of a highly racialized and segregated postapartheid society. In the United States they find themselves in a welfare state with its own racial, socioeconomic, and political tensions. A comparison of Somali settlements in these three locations clearly reveals the importance of immigration policies in the migrant experience. Cawo M. Abdi’s nuanced analysis demonstrates that a full understanding of successful migration and integration must go beyond legal, economic, and physical security to encompass a sense of religious, cultural, and social belonging. Her timely book underscores the sociopolitical forces shaping the Somali diaspora, as well as the roles of the nation-state, the war on terror, and globalization in both constraining and enabling their search for citizenship and security.

This book explores the social participation, identification and transnational practices of Somalis living in Finland and the United States. Through a multifaceted collection of chapters which are based on data ranging from legislation and policy documents to welfare indicators and interviews, this book explores how Somali migrants experience and explore their identities and belongings, and how they strive for participation as (diaspora) citizens of their sending and receiving societies. The case studies are conducted in two countries that differ greatly in terms of their social system, migration history and integration policies and as such they provide an opportunity to explore how different social, political and legal orders influence the life-courses and wellbeing of migrant populations. Furthermore, the book highlights how the fate of the Somalis as a global diaspora is routinely intertwined with the changes in the global political climate and the state-level political processes reflecting it. This book will be of great interest to researchers, students and lecturers of migration and diaspora, as well as individuals working with (Somali) migrants.

Drawing on a wealth of ethnographic detail, Stephanie Bjork offers the first study on the messy role of clan or tribe in the Somali diaspora, and the only study on the subject to include women's perspectives. Somalis Abroad illuminates the ways clan is contested alongside ideas of autonomy and gender equality, challenged by affinities towards others with similar migration experiences, transformed because of geographical separation from family members, and leveraged by individuals for cultural capital. Challenging prevailing views in the field, Bjork argues that clan-informed practices influence everything from asylum decisions to managing money. The practices also become a pattern that structures important relationships via constant--and unwitting--effort.