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Modified human dentition could help archaeologists interpret past human culture for its potentials of surviving better than bone in archaeological records. It is also an essential source for the study of inter and intra-societal differentiation and the nature of a given society's belief system. Dental modification in Ethiopia is known to be a cultural norm among the Karrayyu Oromo and Issa Somali ethnicities. Albeit its widespread occurrence in these ethic groups, its scientific exposition is yet to be explored. This ethnoarchaeological study targets the unraveling of the technical styles, procedures, motives and implications of dental modification from a social identity perspective, with special focuses on Karrayyu Oromo and Issa Somali. The study reveals that both adult males and females in Karrayyu and Issa undergo dental modification for aesthetics, rites of passage, and as emblems of identity. It also showed that variations in technical styles currently seen among aforementioned ethno-linguistic groups would also show variations in the archeological records, which will help to highlight the potential in dental archaeology for identity indicators and cultural markers of past human behavior in archeological dental remains. This exploration is important for developing a model that addresses social identity in archeological assemblages based on specific dental modification style. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender-based violence (GBV) is an all-encompassing term that speaks to acts or threats that may lead to physical, sexual or emotional harm to an individual based on their gender. This paper provides a scoping review of research on gender-based violence among Somali refugee women in different parts of the world. Using the socio-ecological model as a framework, we reviewed 30 empirical studies focusing on some form of GBV among Somali refugee women. We identified societal, community and individual factors contributing to the experience of GBV. We also discuss how these factors influence women's willingness to access care, especially healthcare and social services. The review reveals that oftentimes, institutions that work closely with this population have a limited understanding of how closely culture affects the willingness and ability to seek help about GBV. Based on our analysis, we suggest ways in which social institutions and healthcare providers can provide culturally-safe support to Somali refugee women who have experienced some form of GBV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper unpacks the ways in multiform colonialities of power, species of colonial power and genealogies of colonial power jostle for dominance at the contemporary UK asylum border. Grounded in the context of the Glasgow Bajuni campaign – an attempt to overturn minoritised Somali asylum seekers’ refused “Disputed Nationality” cases – it argues (1) that existing “coloniality of citizenship” literatures can be extended by considering the roles of different “species” of coloniality (such as Protectorate colonialism) in the development of citizenship/migrantising regimes, (2) that “relational entanglements” theorisations should be applied to critiques of bordering/citizenship processes and that (3) relational entanglements are highly contextually specific and full critiques of bordered injustice must incorporate these specificities in their analysis. Consideration of these critiques in combination, the paper argues, leads to precise identification of the multiple and intersecting injustices suffered by the Bajuni campaigners at the asylum border that would otherwise remain obscured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Upon migrating, gender ideologies, performances, and relationships are transformed. However, little work has examined how information and communication technologies facilitate this transformation for immigrant women. In this article, drawing on observations of a Somali women created and led phone line and interviews with founders, moderators, and participants on this space, I consider how Somali immigrant women utilise virtuality to create a unique diasporic space in which they learn and practice the new identity of 'immigrant woman', distinct from the womanhood of their homeland or hostland. I argue that the reconfiguration of their womanhood post-migration is actively developed and negotiated communally through innovative community building and highlight how women specifically benefit from the scale and scope of a decentralised and virtual diaspora. Focusing on the domain of motherhood, I show how virtual space allows for a communal learning and negotiation of arising tensions. These findings illuminate the process underlying gendered immigrant integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can second-generation racialized Canadians cross racial and class boundaries into middle-class mainstream society? Currently, neo-assimilation theory anticipates identificational and socioeconomic assimilation into the mainstream, while segmented-assimilation theory argues that racial and economic structures inhibit racialized groups' assimilation. An emerging strand of assimilation theory – racialized incorporation – hypothesizes that, for racialized individuals, higher sociocultural capital leads to socioeconomic upward mobility, while their identificational and socioeconomic assimilation remain constrained by racial hierarchies. We draw on 118 qualitative interviews with second-generation Somali-Canadians to assess which of these perspectives best describes their subjective experiences of assimilation in Canada. Though we find support for the racialized assimilation hypothesis, our participants' socioeconomic achievements exceed the predictions of this perspective. We, therefore, argue that, under Canadian multiculturalism policies and ideology, race is an attitudinal hurdle to navigate rather than a structural barrier against assimilation. We invite future research to consider the contextualized effects of race on assimilation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on ethnographic research with Syrians in Egypt and with Somalis in Kenya, we argue that forced migrants who are able to choose their migration trajectory might opt for places of refuge in vicinity. We show that in these contexts it is easier for some forced migrants to preserve their socio-economic status. We introduce the term proximate places of refuge to highlight that not only geographical aspects matter for these considerations, but also similarities in lifestyle and living conditions. We explore how people negotiate their class position in proximate places of refuge by looking at how they relate their current situation to the setting they lived in before and to other possible destinations. Furthermore, we show that three aspects of class-making are of specific importance in such a setting: an emic demarcation from the category of the 'refugee', a focus on entrepreneurialism and the valuation of high work ethics, and the ability to transfer different sorts of capital from one place to another. We conclude that moving to proximate places of refuge eases the process of transferring class positions without rupture for some forced migrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to explore the social factors that contribute to the mental health challenges that Somali young adults endure. In a two-phase qualitative approach carried-out in the San Diego area, in phase-I, we conducted exploratory interviews with key-informants including clinicians and local Somali leaders (n = 7) who are familiar with the challenges of young Somalis. This information was then augmented through a focus group discussion with Somali young adults (n = 4) to gain further contextual knowledge and for access to the larger community of young people for phase-II. In this second phase, we carried-out individual interviews with 21 Somali young adults. Interviews covered topics including the social factors influencing their mental health, typical strategies for coping with psychological distress, barriers to seeking professional mental health services, and suggestions for combating mental health problems affecting young Somalis. Participant narratives indicate that psychological distress (depression and posttraumatic stress disorder) are highly pervasive, and that shame, acculturative stress and ethnic discrimination as well as parents' dismissive reactions to their children's emotional problems perpetuate mental health problems. Coping strategies included support from friends, religious activities, and playing soccer. Suggestions for addressing their challenges centered on engagement from their own community to advocate for mental health. Implications of this study are discussed in the context of bridging intergenerational and acculturation divides to deliver culturally competent interventions that improve the mental health and well-being of Somali young adults and aid them in their adjustment to the U.S. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores Somali transborder/transnational activism through the role of two individual actors, drawing upon their life histories and a selection of initiatives they have been involved in over time. The Somali-populated Horn of Africa provides a highly complex environment for the production of identities, based on its ethno-linguistic heritage, clan affiliations, Islam and their variable state-like affiliations in what is a highly politically fragmented context. These complex and multiple forms of identity incorporate diasporic and non-diasporic actors, all of which complicates notions of citizenship. This article draws upon social and cultural notions of citizenship (rather than legal-bureacratic) to argue that the agency expressed by the two protagonists is usefully understood as a form of evolving transborder citizenship. Furthermore, the article utilizes the concept of 'social remittances' to suggest that the quality of behaviour expressed by our transborder citizens is a form of 'civicness', reflective of an engagement with and resistance to the volatile and exclusionary politics of conflict affected contexts. Utilizing life histories enables us to explore how individuals and the networks of which they are part, pursue different strategies, to varying effects, over time and in multiple settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bureaucracy is often portrayed as having an unrivalled capacity to shape human relationships in states and organisations. By contrast, however, ethnographic studies have suggested that bureaucracy cannot easily take root among Somalis and other Muslim nomadic societies where kinship is ostensibly supreme. Based on ethnographic research at Dagahaley refugee camp, this article challenges the idea that Somali kinship and bureaucratic structures are rival governing technologies. I demonstrate that kinship and bureaucracy play similar roles and are, therefore, not incompatible. Kinship provided traction to bureaucratic procedures in the way people used it alongside bureaucracy as means of governance and resource access. The article contributes to legal and political anthropology, as well as the burgeoning field of ethnography of bureaucracy by attributing common portrayals of civil wars, ethnicity, and nepotism as 'nomadic' or 'African' problems to commentators' failure to grasp the value of kinship in these societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bucktee is one of several lexical items associated with 'Toronto Slang' – the emically-given name for an enregistered set of lexical items associated with Multicultural Toronto English (MTE), a multiethnolect spoken by young people in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), originating in the many and varied multicultural and multilingual areas of the conurbation – that is borrowed from Somali. This paper contextualises the influence of Somali on Toronto Slang and MTE: despite being spoken by a relatively small number of Torontonians, intersecting cultural discourses of race, place, gender, and more imbue words borrowed from the language with a desirable value. These cultural discourses and their links are described and mapped in an indexical field. Due to its desirable value and eventual place-based meaning, bucktee has spread well-beyond its source speech community and, in doing so, has undergone indexical bleaching of its ethnoracial origins. This has led to a tension between discourses of pride, the Canadian cultural mosaic, representation, and cultural appropriation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taxation represents a claim to statehood and plays a vital role in processes of mutual recognition between subjects and the state. Debates on the benefits of taxing the informal economy have stressed the mutual benefits of entering into such formalized contracts of recognition. However, based on eight months of ethnographic fieldwork in Eastleigh, Nairobi, I will show how fixed categories of formality and legitimacy are inadequate for capturing the empirical realities of trade and taxation in Eastleigh and beyond. Rather we need to recognize how practices of trade, taxation and governance are continuously contested and move along continuums of (in)formalization and (il)legitimization. I argue that insights into these processes lead to a broader perspective on contracts of recognition, allowing us to (a) recognize practical contracts constituted within state institutions without adhering to formalized laws and regulations and (b) question the perception of fixed links between formality and legitimacy that implicitly underlie much of the dominant development discourse on taxing the informal economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To warrant adequate supplementation of iodine at the consumer level, monitoring and evaluating the concentration of iodine in salt is an essential element of a programme to eliminate iodine deficiencies. This study aimed to determine the adequacy level of iodine concentration in dietary salt at the retailers and household level, and also to assess the level of knowledge and practices of iodized salt utilization in Jigjiga, Somali, Ethiopia. A community-based cross-sectional study using simple random systematic sampling was employed. Salt samples were collected from 90 households and 30 retailer shops. Nearly 88% of households and 80% of retailers had iodized salt. However, only 31.1% and 30% of the households and retailer shops had adequately iodized salt, respectively. Three-fourth (75%) of the participants ever heard about iodized salt. Only 31.3% and 8% of participants obtained information about adverse health effect of iodine and its preventive mechanisms from mass media and health workers, respectively. More than one-thirds (40.6%) of the participants' never used iodized salt due to its high price. The presence of iodine in the salt affected 38% of the participant's taste. About 88% of the participants were storing dietary salt in a container with lid and/or polyethylene bag. Therefore, consistent and regular monitoring of iodized salt along the value chain should consider the availability and affordability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much medical travel scholarship has been driven by a commercial focus whereby private providers pursue a high-value and complex patient market, primarily emanating from the Middle East, North America and Western Europe. This emphasis has led to a framing around 'medical tourism', prompting countervailing critiques of the term and the introduction of alternatives including 'medical pilgrimage' and 'medical exile'. Reappraising the dynamics of mobility has led to explanations of medical travel increasingly located in fields of diaspora and transnationalism. The article identifies how diasporas and transnational communities resist straightforward categorisation regarding the routes and processes through which they utilise healthcare. In this vein the article introduces the concept of 'medical nomadism' and grounds it in the experiences of Somali patients' travel from the United Kingdom for healthcare overseas. It argues medical nomadism is a distinct medical travel behaviour, pointing to similar behaviours of Cape Verdeans living in Netherlands, and the concept's utility in interrogating broader health-seeking mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 'youth bulge' that has been observed across much of the Global South has resulted in the drawing of young people, especially young men, as a threat to social order. In Kenya, the 'spectre of youth radicalization' is particularly prevalent, and young Somali males have been singled out as a volatile youth demographic. While explanations for the correlation between political instability and violence and young men within youth bulge theory tends to focus on economic, political and social structures, this article uses the Kenyan case to emphasise the historical dimensions of the state construction of problematic Somali youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Female genital mutilation or circumcision (FGM/C) is a perilous social and cultural practice that affects the physical, mental, and psychological health of affected women. It is widespread around the world, affecting 200 million women and girls. This study aimed to explore the relation of FGM/C to mental and physical conditions in Somali refugees displaced in a low-resource setting, applying the concept of poly-victimization to reveal multifaceted trauma sequelae. Data for this cross-sectional study with 143 female Somali youth living in Eastleigh, Kenya were collected between April and May in 2013. FGM/C was strongly associated with negative physical and mental health outcomes, including post-traumatic stress disorder and depressive, anxiety, and somatic symptoms. Logistic regression analysis revealed that separation from a parent and poly-victimization experiences were significantly associated with FGM/C experience. The results also showed that FGM/C and other traumas did not occur singly but were indicative of cumulative adversities, especially for women who were socially vulnerable and marginalized. The results of this study highlight the practice of FGM/C in the context of other adverse living conditions of refugees and the importance of attending to other co-occurring risk factors that prevail with FGM/C practice in the ecological system of refugee forced migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the example of European Somalis moving to Kenya, this article argues that although these middle class return migrants share many similarities, they also differ in significant ways. Focusing on economically independent migrants, this paper will show that their move to Kenya is both return and onward migration at the same time. The transnational socio-economic positioning of Somali returnees in Kenya, this article demonstrates, rests on the importance of legal capital for enabling transnational mobility, which in turn is relevant for the convertibility of capital in the various local settings in which migrants settle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After more than a century of mutually constructed strangerhood, relations between the Somali community and the Kenyan state are strained. Following the concomitant developments of the devolution of power, an influx of refugees and a growing securitisation discourse, Somalis in Kenya today take up an ambiguous position between marginalisation and increasing political and economic visibility (Carrier & Lochery 2013; Scharrer 2018; Weitzberg 2017). Based on eight months of ethnographic fieldwork in Eastleigh, Nairobi, I will show how contemporary narratives of belonging and contribution are being presented by the Somali community on a variety of platforms. I will discuss the role of taxation in historical as well as contemporary claims to recognition and the significance of taking claims to formal Kenyan courts. I argue that these diverse practices all serve to create an urban Somali subjectivity in Kenya, as they seek to constitute Eastleigh as a central urban space from where the Somalis can make claims on the Kenyan state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of belonging captures both the overwhelming place-belongingness experienced by many young people living in bounded communities such as refugee communities, as well as the ways belonging is mediated through structural embeddedness and everyday interactions. While the majority of scholarship on belonging emphasise the positive, inclusive aspects of belonging, and generally see belonging as something to be achieved, this article offers a more nuanced understanding of how modes of belonging can act as both a hindrance and a protective mechanism in young people's lives. A qualitative case study of a group of young Somali refugees living in Australia has been chosen to illustrate this dynamic. This article firstly discusses refugee young people's access to and transitions between contexts and communities that enhance their belonging and broaden their opportunities to participate. Secondly, the article shows how efforts to belong to youth communities can, in fact, entrench other kinds of marginalisation. The article seeks to further develop the concept of belonging, as it proved vital in understanding the ways marginalisation shape and influence young people's participatory practices and choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many right-leaning politicians claim that normative Islamic perspectives on gender are at odds with the Western values and act as barriers to immigrant integration. Our interviews with 256 second-generation Somali-Canadians, however, suggest that gender-egalitarian identities are achieved – they are constructed and deployed by our participants to practice integration and express belonging in Canada. In this study, we move beyond analysis of attaining gender-egalitarian roles as a result of immigration and propose an understanding of gender as a form of Bourdieusian cultural capital that, depending on social values, functions as symbolic capital rendering individuals and groups as advantaged or disadvantaged. We, therefore, analyse modalities of "doing" gender as potential strategies of accumulating capital in furthering successful integration. Our study contributes to the emergent literature in migration studies that examines gender in relation to ethnic and national identities, and the extent to which it may impact integration experiences of second-generation Muslim immigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Limited English proficiency can be a barrier to asthma care and is associated with poor outcomes. This study examines whether pediatric patients in Ohio with limited English proficiency experience lower asthma care quality or higher morbidity. Methods: We used electronic health records for asthma patients aged 2–17 years from a regional, urban, children's hospital in Ohio during 2011–2015. Community-level demographics were included from U.S. Census data. By using chi-square and t-tests, patients with limited English proficiency and bilingual English-speaking patients were compared with English-only patients. Five asthma outcomes—two quality and three morbidity measures—were modeled using generalized estimating equations. Results: The study included 15 352 (84%) English-only patients, 1744 (10%) patients with limited English proficiency, and 1147 (6%) bilingual patients. Pulmonary function testing (quality measure) and multiple exacerbation visits (morbidity measure) did not differ by language group. Compared with English-only patients, bilingual patients had higher odds of ever having an exacerbation visit (morbidity measure) (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.4; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2–1.6) but lower odds of admission to intensive care (morbidity measure) (aOR, 0.3; 95% CI, 0.2–0.7), while patients with limited English proficiency did not differ on either factor. Recommended follow-up after exacerbation (quality measure) was higher for limited English proficiency (aOR, 1.8; 95% CI, 1.4–2.3) and bilingual (aOR, 1.6; 95% CI, 1.3–2.1), compared with English-only patients. Conclusions: In this urban, pediatric population with reliable interpreter services, limited English proficiency was not associated with worse asthma care quality or morbidity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses the concept of aesthetic formation to examine the practices through which diasporic imaginations become tangible and experienced as 'real'. The authors interpret sport as an embodied aesthetic practice through which diasporas materialise, with important implications for identification and belonging. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork on a transnational community-based sports event, the Amsterdam Futsal Tournament, the paper discusses how articulations of Somali diasporism become tangible and embodied in subjects who participate in this event. The authors conclude that these materialisation practices can simultaneously elicit multiple forms and levels of belonging that also foster a sense of integration and belonging to the nation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Social stigma is commonly experienced by parents of children with autism. Our aim was to understand the nature of stigma experienced by Somali parents of children with autism in the United Kingdom (UK), and to consider how they coped with or resisted such stigma. Design: We used a community-based participatory research approach, collaborating with a community organisation of Somali parents. In-depth interviews with simultaneous translation were conducted with 15 Somali parents of children with autism living in Bristol, UK, in 2015. Parents were sampled purposively to capture diversity in children’s age, severity of autism and time since diagnosis. Directed thematic analysis used Link and Phelan’s model of stigma. Results: Of the 15 participants, 12 were mothers (mean age 36). The 17 children with autism they cared for were 4-13 years’ old, and five were girls. Two main themes with sub-themes were identified: the nature of stigma (labelling and stereotyping; separation; emotional reactions, discrimination and power), and coping and resistance (the power of language; faith as a resource; learning, peer support and community relationships). Children with autism were labelled and stereotyped (e.g. as ‘sick’, ‘naughty’, ‘different’) and parents blamed for not controlling them, leading to social rejection and isolation. Stigma was associated with a poor understanding of autism, a lack of vocabulary related to autism in the Somali community, and prejudice against mental illness and disability. There was evidence of enacted and felt stigma and examples of discrimination. Finding their own language to describe their child’s condition and drawing on faith, learning and peer support were important resources in resisting stigma. Conclusions: Findings inform support for this community, highlighting the need to raise awareness of autism, enable parents to speak openly, and ensure appropriate professional services and interventions are available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the way a “politics of belonging” has been enacted in recent years in Kenya, and what this means for the Somali population of the country. Even though Kenyan Somalis have been treated as “ambiguous citizens” since independence, the question for many of them is not so much if they belong to Kenya, but rather how. In the multi-ethnic state of Kenya, there are other groups as well who are “ambiguous citizens” - including Asians, Whites, Nubians and Arabs - for whom two main dimensions along which “Kenyanness” is constructed come into the foreground: a racial dimension and a cultural dimension. Kenyan Somalis seem to be ambiguous in both of them. Following McIntosh’s contention that one way to claim “Kenyanness” is to appeal to “a civic nationalism, in which all groups invested in the nation are equally welcome”, this article argues - based on ethnographic data gathered since 2010 as well as archival sources - that many Kenyan Somalis are ready to take this possibility up, if they have the chance to do so. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Adequate knowledge of sexual health among young adults is a critical step in prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and maintenance of adult sexual health. Knowledge of specific barriers to accessing sexual health knowledge can help tailor approaches appropriately. The purpose of this paper was to identify sexual health knowledge barriers among Somali young adults in Ohio. Design: In-depth interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of 27 Somali young adults aged 18-25 years. Using a grounded theory approach, a semi-structured interview guide comprising open-ended questions and probes was utilized to collect data. Data were analyzed and coded using constant comparative analysis. Results: Findings revealed sexual health knowledge barriers in the following broad categories: religion, culture and stigma. Cultural and religious norms were deemed an important influence on the community norms largely impacting sexual health knowledge due to stigma and fear of judgment. Participants overcame barriers by seeking information from external sources such as doctors, Internet and peers. Conclusion: Study findings support an approach that will address sexual health barriers in the Somali immigrant young community at multiple levels: individual, interpersonal and community levels. A collaborative effort across religious, cultural and educational setting is necessary to tailor approaches that meet the needs of the priority group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a project, Seeds Of The Future/Somali Programme, which took place in June 2015. In the project, the disciplines of dramatherapy and creative writing were used in fusion in a series of workshops to gather testimony from Somali men, women and adolescent girls about their commitment to moving away from Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) as a community. These stories have been translated into Somali and podcast, so that they can be used at a grassroots level in the anti-FGM campaign to persuade newly arrived/non-English-speaking Somali immigrants that the British Somali community is rapidly transitioning away from FGM, and thereby reduce or prevent cutting of young Somali girls. The paper explains the need for effective Somali-language testimony, and how the project was executed. It also includes memoir and testimony from the workshop participants themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Aims: To evaluate the consequences of criminalising khat, with a focus on the changes in law enforcement and the use, availability, price and quality of khat in the Netherlands.Methods:Mixed methods, including law enforcement data, expert interviews, focus group interviews with members of the Somali community, and a survey among 168 current (last month) khat users.Findings: Soon after the law changed (early in 2013), and khat had become an illicit drug, much of the khat imported from Africa was confiscated at Schiphol International Airport and users found it more difficult to obtain fresh khat leaves. About two years after the ban had been implemented, the price of fresh khat at user level had increased tenfold on average, and much of it was of poorer quality (e.g. sold in dried or powdered form).Conclusion: Criminalisation of khat in the Netherlands had substantial consequences for the khat market, predominantly because the ban was actively enforced at a crucial stage in the distribution chain (transcontinental import by air) and there was a lack of alternative transportation routes that could supply users with fresh khat. It is highly likely that the total number of Somali khat users in the Netherlands dropped, but that the proportion of dependent and poor, “problem users” increased. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The study examined potential psychosocial determinants of male condom use in steady heterosexual relationships among Somali and Ethiopian immigrants in Minnesota in two sequential phases: the elicitation (Phase I) and cross-sectional quantitative studies (Phase II). Information from Phase I was used to develop the instrument for Phase II. Study participants who self-identified as Somali and Ethiopian immigrants (n = 205) responded to questions on demographic characteristics, attitudes (affective and instrumental), norms (subject and descriptive), perceived behavioral control, self-efficacy, and intention to use male condoms. Hierarchical regression models were used to assess the relationship between the main independent variables (attitude norms, perceived behavioral control, and self-efficacy, and the dependent variable, the intention to use male condoms. Overall, participants showed low intention and slightly favorable (affective and instrumental) attitudes toward condom use; had experienced weak, but positive social influence as measured by injunctive and descriptive norms. Moreover, study participants had shown slight perceived behavioral control, but had fairly moderate positive self-efficacy. The Theory of Planned Behavior was moderately effective in predicting condom use; however, the Integrated Behavioral Model, explained nearly 40% of the variations in the intention to use male condoms. Among men, self-efficacy had the strongest influence (β = .44, p < .001) on behavioral intention. Among women, descriptive norms (β = .22,p < .05) exerted the strongest effect (model 3). Improving self-efficacy, specifically, among older men, and fostering desirable normative influence among women, are suggested as main components of public health interventions to promote condom use among Somali and Ethiopian immigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper explores the benefits of performative ethnography as a methodological intervention. The intervention discussed in this paper utilizes the persuasive power of aesthetics and performance to attain participation amongst a broad spectrum of research interlocutors and to challenge my own power and positionality in the fieldwork, whilst rendering me invisible as a participant observer. The performative ethnography discussed in this paper took place in the central business district (CBD) of Bellville, in the Cape Town area in South Africa, and consists of two performances, curated by the author, that took place at the same time. One is a painting performance through which Somali participants were invited to express their emotional experiences of living in Cape Town, and their memories, nostalgia and attachment to their land of origin. The painting performance revealed Somali diversity, multiple belongings and a politics of making cultural difference. The second performance was staged to overlap, in ways unanticipated by the participants, and consisted of a South African minstrel troupe walking through Bellville CBD, attaining a moment of conviviality through the unmaking of cultural difference. Beneath this methodological intervention is an exploration of the politics of difference and the conviviality of Bellville CBD's everyday multiculturalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the dynamics of change in meaning-making about female genital cutting among migrants from Somalia and Sudan residing in Norway. In both countries, female genital cutting is almost universal, and most women are subjected to the most extensive form – infibulation – which entails the physical closure of the vulva. This closure must later be re-opened, or defibulated, to enable sexual intercourse and childbirth. Defibulation can also ease other negative health consequences of the practice. In Norway, surgical defibulation is provided on demand by the public health services, also beyond the traditional contexts of marriage and childbirth. This study explores experiences and perceptions of premarital defibulation. It explores whether Somali and Sudanese men and women understand defibulation as a purely medical issue or whether their use of the services is also affected by the cultural meaning of infibulation. This study analyses data from in-depth interviews with 36 women and men of Somali and Sudanese origin as well as participant observation conducted in various settings during 2014–2015. It reports that although all of the informants displayed negative attitudes towards infibulation, cultural meanings associated with virginity and virtue constitute a significant barrier to the uptake of premarital defibulation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the public framing of the politics of identity and conflict in Chinaksen and Tulli-Guled districts where the Jarso and the Girhi have lived together as sedentary farmers. These are the districts wherein the two groups now experience socio-political and resource-based conflicts with identity underpinnings. The paper is based on qualitative data generated through intensive one-on-one interviews and focus group discussions. For analytical leverage, the paper draws on various mutually reinforcing sociological and social-psychological theories. The paper attempts to address the place of social framing in the conflict environment and the implication of frame-based positional and cognitive orientations on intergroup relations and interactions. The central argument of the paper is that in a context where identity groups are embroiled in competitive discourses, conflict framing serves as a vehicle through which members communicate their constrained and contested perceptions and understandings. Based on the analysis, the paper addressed the implication that the effectiveness of conflict management and resolution efforts and the efforts to reconstruct social integration in this context rests in a grassroots embrace and promotion of the values of transformative justice and interrelationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper introduces the Baanashada Dumarka, a Somali fertility therapy carried out by a spirit medium, known locally as 'Alaqad. Baanashada is aimed at women whose fertility issues are believed to be caused by spirits. The study also explores a component of the Baanashada, namely, the use of tiire (Rotheca myricoides), or the butterfly bush. Although Rotheca myricoides is known to possess a number of medicinal components as confirmed by studies of modern science, so far, there exist no studies on its potential (or lack of) fertility effects. Hence, the alleged fertility benefits of the butterfly bush need examining. The author is aware of at least one recent case that a Somali woman from Europe died of herbs placed in her cervix by a traditional healer in Somaliland. This piece of information indicated not only the role of herbal medicine in fertility practices, but also the popularity of traditional reproductive medicine beyond border, class or educational background. Yet, current research into Somali women's health focuses mainly on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), examined often without the context of wider cultural practices. This paper, however, suggests that rituals, beliefs and material culture play a paramount role in women's practices. For example, as explored elsewhere, the wagar, a wooden and sacred object made of the African olive, is critical for fertility practices. The current paper illuminates further the significance of reproduction practices in Somali society and the potential continuity of traditions associated with the perpetuation of kinship. It concludes that fertility rituals are part of a wider context of interaction with sacred landscapes, objects and archaeological sites, often associated with past legends in the Horn of Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Somali immigrants and refugees have entered the United States with increasing frequency due to civil war-induced violence and instability in their native country. The resultant increase of Somali students is of particular relevance to educators and school psychologists because Somali youth possess unique cultural backgrounds. In addition, refugee youth are at an elevated risk for mental health and academic difficulties due to their pre-immigration exposure to traumatic events and lack of formal education. In this article, we provide an overview of Somali history and culture, recent immigrant trends, and the challenges faced by Somali children and youth in the United States. Then, we describe the research on school-based supports for the academic and social-emotional needs of this population, and discuss implications for school psychological services and applied research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The objective of the present study was to assess the relation between female genital mutilation and obstetric outcome in an East African urban clinic with a standardized care, taking into account medical and socioeconomic status. Methods: This was a cohort study conducted in Djibouti between October 1, 2012 and April 30, 2014. Overall 643 mothers were interviewed and clinically assessed for the presence of female genital mutilation. The prevalence of obstetric complications by infibulation status was included in a multivariate stepwise regression model. Results: Overall, 29 of 643 women did not have any form of mutilation (4.5%), as opposed to 238 of 643 women with infibulation (37.0%), 369 with type 2 (57.4%), and 7 with type 1 mutilation (1.1%).Women with a severe type of mutilation were more likely to have socio-economic and medical risk factors. After adjustment, the only outcome that was significantly related with infibulation was the presence of meconium-stained amniotic fluid with an odds ratio of 1.58 (1.10–2.27),pvalue=0.014. Conclusions: Infibulation was not related with excess perinatal morbidity in this setting with a very high prevalence of female genital mutilation, but future research should concentrate on the relation between infibulation and meconium. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article contributes to understanding how collective identification as well as institutional factors affects migrants' democratic engagement. In particular, it analyses variations in patterns of voting behaviour at local elections among migrants living in two municipalities: Malmö (Sweden) and Ealing (London, UK). Empirically, the article compares the responses of Somalis and Poles (N: 68) with regard to (i) their democratic participation in the society of residence and (ii) their perceived identification with their in-group and with Sweden and the UK, respectively. Using narrative analysis to understand the impact of collective identification and of the political context on migrants' voting behaviour, the article will show that favourable institutional and discursive structures of opportunities can formally enable migrants to democratically engage with the society they live in. However, political opportunity structures are not enough to mobilise migrant groups. A dual identification with the recipient society and their in-group promotes a sense of entitlement to political rights and positively affects participation in local elections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines some of the ways in which the politics of a written script are enacted among Somali refugees and immigrants in present-day schools and classrooms. Analysis focuses on data gathered with Somali youths in one all-immigrant high school classroom in the US. Data are examined to illustrate how global processes, some of which have developed across timescales of multiple decades, including the decision about a Somali script, the Somali civil war(s) and the rise of Somali Diaspora, play out in everyday classroom interactions. Here we extend the academic conversation about the cognitive and educational benefit of home language literacy and schooling when learning a new language by exploring the dynamic relationship between the symbolic power of Somali print literacy on the one hand, and current classroom practices and informal policies on the other. These findings illustrate how the history of the Somali script, differential access to formal schooling along gender lines and the benefit of having print literacy in Somali play out in everyday interactions at school. We document ways in which Somali print literacy is integral to how Somali adolescents see themselves and others as learners and individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resettled refugees need a network of relationships to ensure they can live meaningful lives in New Zealand. These relationships are complex and exist between individuals and communities at local and national levels. Conceptualised as social capital, these relationships provide the invisible glue holding society together. Drawing on data from a research project on the Somali community in Auckland, this paper reflects on contemporary developments within the refugee sector and highlights the ways in which social capital provides further insight into the experiences of refugee integration at a local level in New Zealand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immigrants move not only from one country to another, but also to different ways of living and different kinds of housing systems. Based on the studies among households with Pakistani, Tamil and Somali background in Oslo, this article explores how immigrants adapt to the housing market. The result is a typology of cross-cultural adaptation, developed from the experiences of the households. Behaviours are interpreted as expressions of how people link structures and resources from their cultural belonging with perceived constraints and opportunities in new contexts. The type of adaptive behaviour is shown to have consequences for how immigrants perform in the housing market in their new place of residence. Those who manage to apply previous knowledge to openings and options in the new housing system are in a favourable position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this essay, we trace the national and religious anxieties that emerge with the influx of Somali refugees and capital investments into the Nairobi suburb of Eastleigh. More specifically, we look at how the ambiguity of Somali identity [citizen/refugee] in Kenya renders ineffective the state's attempt to police the circulation of the ‘Somali body’ and capital and how this becomes part of a quest for certitude that manifests itself in security discourse on the ‘Somali threat’ on one hand and a national/religious discourse on authentic Kenyanness. Through a reading of affective and moral economies, we illustrate how ‘Somali driven development’ and presence in Eastleigh, rather than act a source of national and religious anxieties can be seen as an opportunity to re-negotiate and re-evaluate both national and urban senses of community. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There is some truth in the statement that in Somalia the periods and regions least affected by struggles about the state have provided better living conditions than the ones more affected by statehood. It is also true that the state, especially in the final stage of its existence leading up to its collapse in 1991, was of a predatory nature and, rather than contributing to development, affected it adversely. There is no doubt that no state at all is better than some of the experience the Somali have made with actually existing statehood (but not in comparison with many alternative courses history could have taken). In some recent writings about Somalia, however, the advantages of statelessness have been grossly overstated, and the disadvantages of not having a functioning nation-state in a world of nation-states have grossly been neglected. Especially the Somali customary law (xeer) has been romanticized and praised as a cost-efficient mechanism for the provision of ‘justice’ in the absence of statehood. This paper examines the actual working of customary law and finds it to be based on negotiation, often between unequals with a number of structural advantages for the demographically, economically and militarily stronger side.Xeerdoes regulate the use of violence to a degree, but it does not produce ‘justice’ in the universal or Western sense of the term, as some of its advocates seem to assume. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores the role of recreational sport as a means and marker of social integration by analysing the lived experiences of Somali people from refugee backgrounds with sport. Drawing on a three-year multi-sided ethnography, the paper examines the extent to and ways in which participation in sport contributes to Somali Australians' bonding, bridging, and linking social capital. It is shown how social bonds and bridges developed in the sports context assist in the (re)building of community networks that have been eroded by war and displacement. Sport's contribution to social capital should however be neither overstated nor over-generalized. Bridging social capital in sport is relatively weak and few bridges are established between Somalis and the host community. Negative social encounters such as discrimination and aggression can highlight and reinforce group boundaries. Access to and use of linking social capital is also unequally distributed across gender, age, ethnic, and socio-economic lines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past few decades the inhabitants of the Oromo–Somali borderlands of southern Ethiopia have encountered three competing nationalisms: Ethiopian state nationalism (patriotism), Somali ethno-nationalism (irredentism), and Oromo ethno-nationalism. The territories and peoples claimed by each competing nationalism overlap. In the 1960s and 1970s Somali irredentist claims predominated, and generated a severe Ethiopian response. In the post-1991 period, claims and counter-claims over territories around the borders of the Oromia and Somali ethno-national regional states of Ethiopia became the centre of conflicts. These claims specifically contest water points, tracts of land, ritual sites and towns. The ethno-territorial contestation and negotiation between the Oromia and Somali ethno-national regional states are mirrored and explained at the local level by disputes and conflicts between the Borana and Garri pastoralists, who have reformulated their longstanding competitions over pastoral resources along the new political dispensation. This article examines the multifaceted interactions between state patriotism, ethno-nationalisms, irredentism and ethno-federalism in these borderlands from the 1960s to the present. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article uses the resource scarcity-violence model of Homer-Dixon (1999) to analyse the drivers of conflicts between ethnic groups that shared the pre-colonial ethnic frontiers of trans-Jubaland–Wajir and competed over water sources during the colonial period in the Northern Frontier District (NFD) of Kenya from 1903 to 1939. The article shows that pre-colonial ethnic conflicts were not induced by resource scarcity. Rather, extended periods of peace punctuated by conflicts were associated more with social and political relations. By contrast, the colonial period, with far more restrictive resource access to wells and the grazing lands, resulted in structural changes in resource scarcity. Colonial resource governance was incapable of stopping the pressures from migrants threatening resident populations. Residents were finally displaced and former alliances broken up. The competition resulted in violent conflicts due to structural changes that altered rights to resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pilot study was conducted to test the appropriateness of a nutrition and food security survey and estimate the prevalence of food security and its relationship with dietary intake habits among Somali refugees (n = 35) resettled in the United States. The other main objective was to estimate the association between acculturation and dietary intake habits. The interviews with the Somali mothers indicated that 72% of households were food insecure and, in comparison, the intake of fruits and green leafy vegetables was significantly lower among the food insecure households than among secure households (p < .05). Both of the acculturation indicators used in this survey, living in the United States for four years or more and having English language proficiency, were associated with a high intake of snack items among participants. Future studies examining the influence of food security and acculturation on health outcomes such as body weight are warranted among refugees in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from a 2-year qualitative study, the author examines how East African Muslim immigrant youth experience and become shaped by the environments of U.S. mainstream schools compared with a culturally specific charter high school Results from this study reveal that East African Muslim immigrant youth are affected by religious and cultural discrimination in mainstream schools and that attending a culturally specific charter school promotes positive intercultural competence in which students are able to build a good self-concept and find comfort in who they are as East African immigrants, as Muslims, and as American citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Somali refugees who fled the collapse of their homeland and resettled in the US narrate 'who they are' within a bewildering entanglement of cultural differences layered with diasporic tensions. This analysis examines the storytelling of a young woman refugee to Lewiston, Maine, who embodies the performative tensions that animate Somali identity at this intense historical moment and in this dense cultural space. I follow her unfolding counter/narrative dance within the confluence of gazes - feminist, colonialist, multiculturalist, and academic - which dialogically inform the possibilities of her identity as she contests definitions of Somali ethnicity, feminism, blackness, and Islam. Her storytelling circulates and reworks two dominant narratives used to explain Somali identity: identity-as-culture and identity-as-religion. Performance analysis of her storytelling makes evident that Somali culture and Islamic religion are co-articulated as well as inescapably liminal and localized by the bodily differences of gender and race in the diaspora. I problematize the narrative event as a dialogic, co-constructed, and transnational encounter in which the narrator reads and talks back to regulating discourses at the same time that I question my own complicity in dominant designs. The narrative performance and analysis display a Somali ethnicity fleshed out, critically inflected, and creatively nuanced by the diaspora which inserts an emerging Somali story in US immigration narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between late 2007 and autumn 2008, an estimated 18 or more Somali-American adolescent boys and young men living in the Minneapolis area secretly left their homes and flew to Somalia to join militant extremist training camps run by the Al Shabaab extremist organization. Political instability in Somalia, the 2006 Ethiopian invasion, social difficulties in US refugee communities, family instability, and local networks, all adeptly exploited by extremist recruiters, have together created contextual risks for violent radicalization amongst those Somalis resettled as refugees in the US as children and adolescents. While existing terrorism prevention efforts may interact with the community and family processes that influence radicalization and recruitment, the lack of adequate conceptualization of these processes poses a major challenge. In particular, it impedes progress in the development of prevention strategies. In this paper we examine the situation of Somalis in Minnesota from a psychosocial perspective. Specifically, we propose strategies derived from public health interventions for managing the risks of radicalization and recruitment by focusing on ways to enhance community and family protective resources for those at risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. The main objective of this paper is to review the literature on the term 'Black African' with respect to a number of themes: its use in the census and official data collections; the acceptability of a colour-based term; the heterogeneity concealed within the 'Black African' collectivity; the invisibility of distinct populations; the concealment of disparities in health, health care, and determinants; the capture of 'Black Africans' in other countries; and a set of possible alternatives for classifying this population. Design. Structured searches were undertaken on a wide range of government and other grey literature sources and on two biomedical databases (Medline and EMBASE), using combinations of search terms for the collectivity and specific national origin groups. Results. Analyses of the data show that the term 'Black African' conceals substantial heterogeneity with respect to national origins, religion, and language. It includes many who have come to the UK since the 1960s from former colonies but also sizeable groups arriving as refugees and asylum seekers from a wide range of African countries. Moreover, its boundaries are fuzzy, especially with regard to those originating in Horn of Africa countries. Marked variations are found in the (albeit limited) available disaggregated data on health and the determinants of inequalities. Conclusions. Given the substantial increase in the size of the group, the extent to which such heterogeneity can continue to be tolerated in a single term must be questioned. The 'Black African' collectivity merits categorisation that addresses this issue and the proposed regional subdivisions in the Scotland 2006 Census Test currently offer the best solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is increasing fear among the general public about khat, its use and users, and associated crime. In many English cities, neighborhoods with growing Somali populations and emerging khat-using scenes and markets have to find ways of managing the impact of the negative image of khat. This case study describes and analyzes how a local municipal authority can respond constructively by generating an evidence base, engaging in consultation, and endeavoring to identify the actual relationship between reported criminality and public nuisance and the alleged patterns of use and distribution of khat. It is argued that it is important to frame the khat in the community not as a “drug problem” but as a wider public health issue, for which appropriate solutions can be developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study addresses the racial and religious contexts of identity formation among Lebanese immigrants to the United States of America and Somali immigrants to Canada. Each enters with a different racial status: Lebanese as white; Somalis as black/visible minority. Ethnographic interviews explore the strategies of adaptation and identity development within these groups. Specifically, we compare and contrast the Lebanese and Somali experience through an analysis of ethnic relations in the country of origin, the conditions of immigration, and through accounts of their encounters and identity negotiation with the host society. We demonstrate the strategies each group implements to negotiate both race and religion in identity development. Our findings reveal that each group attempts to make their religious identity evident, however, Somali immigrants must negotiate the effects of ‘othering’ processes with both race and religion, while Lebanese immigrants build a religious identity from privileges afforded to them by virtue of their white racial status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the 2005 terrorist attacks on London it emerged that two of the terrorists charged with the failed 21st July bombings had arrived in the UK as child asylum seekers from East Africa. In the ensuing debate the bombers were represented as children that turned to hate. In this discussion paper we draw on empirical work conducted in Sheffield, UK to explore the identities, affiliations and practices of Somali asylum seeker children, aged 11–18.1 Specifically, we argue that the actions of the two bombers need to be framed within a broader understanding of the complex processes of social identification that take place as young people negotiate what it means to be a child in the context of different ‘age’, gender and racialised expectations and against a backdrop of discrimination and social exclusion in different relational geographical spaces. We begin by outlining the context of UK immigration policy, before reflecting on dominant constructions of both childhood and asylum seekers. We then discuss how these may shape young refugee and asylum seekers' own narratives of the self and the role that their mobility and specific sites of identity formation may play in this process. In doing so, we contribute to children's geographies by addressing a group – refugee and asylum seekers – that has been neglected within the sub-discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]