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Ethiopia is a multicultural and multilingual country. The Oromo and Somali communities are found in the same linguistic community, that is, the Cushitic language. Historically, Somalis and Oromo have a long tradition of co-existence and strong socio-cultural interactions, as well as antagonistic relationships and intermittent conflicts. Traditionally, the major sources of conflict between the two communities were competition over scarce resources, territorial expansion, livestock raids and counter raids, kidnapping for marriage purposes and the revenge tradition. However, this time the conflict took a different nature, form and bigger scale causing devastation never seen in the history of communal conflict in the country. The study has utilised primary and secondary data collection and employed narration and content analysis to realise the objective of the paper. The findings of this study reveal that the causes of the Oromo–Somali conflict are complex and dynamic. This urges the need to carry out a deeper investigation beyond the federal arrangement. Thus, fundamental and triggering factors including the involvement of internal and external forces, the collapse of social norms and prevalence of moral anarchism, socio-economic issues, competing interests among public and military officials, poor leadership and governance system, competing interests over resources, aspects of local cultural institutions in regulating inter-ethnic relationships are identified in fuelling ethnic conflict in the studied area. Since the conflict in the region is much more complex than the dominant narrative of resource scarcity and ethnic politicisation, open democratic dialogue, genuine consultation and negotiation at a different level with various interest groups, stakeholders and community representatives, militant groups operating in the area is of paramount importance to ease the increasing ethnic tension and political crisis in order to build sustainable peace in the region.

The current understanding of Black Hawk Down is based on two assumptions: allegations of tired tactics and claims by Somali National Alliance leader Mohammed Farrah Aideed. These assumptions, accepted without much analysis or supporting evidence, stem from analysing Black Hawk Down working backwards from after the event, with a predeterminant methodology. This article examines the causation objectively, showing these assumptions as evidentiary weak, and instead highlights the actions of another American unit, Team Courage, as a potential factor in the events of 3 October, universally overlooked thus far, prompting a reinterpretation of the existing narrative, the SNA as an enemy, and the veracity of Aideed’s claims.

Since the collapse of the Somali state in the early 1990s, the country has been one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists. Many have been killed with impunity and the majority of those that have been killed where the perpetrator is known have been connected to political groups, including a range of actors such as government forces, parastatals including the Islamist group, Al-Shabaab and businessmen. The lines between such authorities are often blurred. While the targeting and assassination of journalists is certainly one key aspect of potential transitional justice process, it is not the only one. This article explores the variety of ways that journalists contribute and participate in violence and how transitional justice processes must grapple with these nuances and complexities. Drawing on examples from other countries, including South Africa and the former Yugoslavia, the article reflects on the different ways that media intersects with transitional justice processes in Somalia.

Purpose: This critical phenomenology study examines the experiences of Somali mothers’ involvement with an urban school in London, United Kingdom. Specifically, the study explores Somali mothers’ experiences and responses in navigating the coloniality of gender discourses imbedded in school structure and culture. The research questions that guided the study concerned the gender-based tools that Somali mothers use to navigate the school structure and culture and how school leaders can recognize and tap into parental knowledge and ways of being to serve these communities. Methods: This study is based on the stories of five Somali immigrant mothers. Data collection included focus groups, field memos, site observations, and school archival data. Data were analyzed through hermeneutic interpretation of whole-part-whole. Findings: Somali mothers use three important elements—identity, resistance, and traditions—to respond to coloniality of gender in school as they negotiate tensions between the Somali conception of motherhood and western notions of gender. The findings emphasize the practices rooted in Indigenous Somali culture and gender roles as assets. Implications: This research argues that the matripotent leadership practices of Somali mothers can inform theory, practice, and policy, as these practices offer a more collective and humanizing approach to leadership centered in ideals connected to a non-Western conception of motherhood, gender, and gender dynamics.

This paper centres on a methodological approach that drew together postcolonial feminist theory with arts-based methods, as well as learning from Indigenous methodologies. The methodology developed...

The current study is a brief evaluation of a community-based project called “Gurmad – Save the Youth”. The word “Gurmad” comes from the Somali language and it means saving someone. The project was implemented in 2017–2018 in Espoo, Finland. The main aim of the project was to prevent social exclusion and radicalization among immigrant young adults living in the area. Another aim was to create a community-based approach to help solve their social problems. In this study, the Trident approach is utilized to structure the available results of an internal, participatory evaluation. Confirmed strengths of the project could serve as a rationale for the continuation of the programme.

The state is often considered a necessary condition for the existence of social order and economic development. However, except for the group of developed countries, most states are incapable of providing services which are commonly attributed to them. In this paper an approach, according to which the state is the best possible form of political organisation, is confronted with the case of stateless Somalia. Without government since 1991 this country provides an opportunity to investigate the emergence of institutions and supply of public goods in a stateless society. Using the comparative institutional approach the situation in Somalia is compared with the period before the collapse of the state as well as with the situation in other countries of the Horn of Africa region, showing a relative economic improvement after 1991. Considering economic development as an essential indicator describing the stability of social institutions, this corroborates the argument according to which a hierarchical form of political organisation not only may destabilise social order, but also that anarchy can be more successful than the state in providing stabilisation and economic development.

There is increasing documentation that refugees face experiences of interpersonal or structural discrimination in health care and employment. This study examines how Somali refugees understand various forms of discrimination in employment and health care related to their health, utilization of, and engagement with the health care system in the United States. We draw on semistructured qualitative interviews ( N = 35) with Somali young adults in three U.S. states—Minnesota, Massachusetts, and Maine. Using modified grounded theory analysis, we explore how experiences of discrimination in employment and health care settings impact health care access, utilization, and perceptions of health among Somali young adults. Discrimination was identified as a major barrier to using health services and securing employment with employer-sponsored insurance coverage. These findings highlight how interpersonal and structural discrimination in employment and health care are mutually reinforcing in their production of barriers to health care utilization among Somali refugees.

Culture, acquired taste and past experiences, shape immigrants’ food preferences and acculturation inclination. As people migrate from Africa, South Asia and China to Canada, Toronto’s food landsca...

The Somali community in Britain has been portrayed as largely homogenous and rather problematic, unwilling to integrate into mainstream British society, a perception that is reinforced by the media and government policies. The government policies tend to ignore the internal diversity and change that the community is experiencing. Drawing on data from a family language policy project, this paper aims to explore intergenerational changes in language preference and use and associated issues of identity within the Somali community in Britain. We look at how the changes in language preference and practice manifest themselves through reported language use and language policies at home, how the changes are affecting the British Somali youths in particular, and how ideas of Somaliness and Britishness are negotiated on an individual level, as well as on a community-wide level through Somali-led organisations. And we highlight the work that the community is doing to tackle issues of intergenerational language shift and Somali identity building. The study aims to contribute to a better understanding of the struggles of the Somali community in Britain in dealing with diversity and change, an understanding that is crucial to the development of appropriate policies regarding the community.

Access to adequate, much less state-of-the-art, mental health care is a global problem. Natural disasters, civil war, and terrorist conflict have forcibly displaced millions of Muslims and have resulted in a remarkable level of individual and communitywide trauma exposure. As a result, many are at risk for posttraumatic stress and other trauma-related disorders. Many religiously oriented Muslims traditionally rely on Islamic principles and teachings, as well as their community, to cope with and address trauma-related distress. Islamic Trauma Healing is a six-session, lay-led group intervention developed within a Somali Muslim community that integrates evidence-based trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy principles with cultural and religious practices aimed to enhance uptake and create an easily up-scalable intervention for a wide range of trauma. In sessions, narratives of prophets who have undergone trauma (e.g., Prophet Ayyub, faith during hard times) present Islamic principles and facilitate cognitive shifts. Group members spend individual time turning to Allah in dua (i.e., informal prayer), focused on exposure to trauma memories. Program themes arc across suffering to healing to growth following trauma. This paper describes the core theoretical principles and methods in the Islamic Trauma Healing program. We also describe leader perspectives and the program’s train-the-trainer model, in which lay leaders are trained to further disseminate the program and allow Islamic Trauma Healing to be owned and sustained by the Muslim community.

Somalia has a long history of internally inspired terror mainly arising from the threat of terrorism that has threatened both domestic and international interests and has drawn increased military efforts from both African continent partners and China and the United States. The aim was to investigate the strategies applied by AMISOM in military diplomacy in the Horn of Africa. The study adopted an exploratory and mixed methods research design. Mixed methods approach allows for investigation of a broader and complex research problem enabling the researcher to utilize more than one approach, both quantitative and qualitative approach of data collection. The study target population entailed AMISOM staff whose relevant responses provided sufficient information to answer the research questions. Currently, AMISOM has 22,000 military troops, 234 police officers and 81 civilians. Moreover, the study equally targeted the Somali civilian population since they were important stakeholders in providing information on the effectiveness of military diplomacy in the country. Thus, the target population comprised 22,315 AMISOM staff and civilian contingent. Out of these, the study sampled 100. Primary data was collected from study respondents by means of a research questionnaire and an interview schedule. The data analysis process involved both qualitative and quantitative techniques. Content analysis was mainly used to analyse the qualitative data and which would be reported normatively. Quantitative research findings were analysed and reported using descriptive statistics, tables, graphs, charts and inferential statistics in Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS v23). Moreover, the data analysis was structured objectively to address each of the study research questions. This study suffices to demonstrate that AMISOM involvement in Somalia as an act of military diplomacy occasioned by the need to foster peace and regional stability on the horn of Africa region. The study demonstrated AMISOM employs different military diplomacy strategies although at different capacities. From the foregoing, the study points to the need for restructuring of AMISOM’s peace and security architecture to bring out focus and responsiveness to the dynamic nature of the conflict and the enemy. The study recommends the need for further exploration into military diplomacy in Africa, especially given the dearth in empirical literature that is mainly from the West. Following this exploration of the role of military diplomacy in restoring peace and security in the horn of Africa, this study points to research gaps on the influence of civilian component in military diplomacy efforts on peace and security. Further there is need to understand the psychological effects in AMISOM troops participating in military diplomacy efforts in Somalia.

The question of whether classroom reading activities in primary schools in England can be solely relied on to be sufficient for English as additional language (EAL) pupils to comprehend English text was the focus of the paper. Two case studies where Somali origin EAL pupils involved in learning English reading comprehension were utilized as a springboard to develop my argument that parents are an intrinsic part of developing pupils’ English comprehension as they may constitute financially less expensive and rich resources in terms of cultural experiences. Furthermore, England’s education policy regarding EAL pupils, reading for comprehension, and factors that influence it: vocabulary knowledge, teacher -students ratio in England school and parental involvement in schools were explored to provide an answer for the question of whether only reading for comprehension activities in the classroom is enough to promote the understanding of EAL Somali origin. It was argued that only those activities are not sufficient, and there is a need for the use of parents as resources to enrich the text input, which potentially increases the comprehension skills of Somali origin EAL pupils.

This article explores the historical making and unmaking of the urban character of Hargeisa. Based on data obtained through a combination of urban ethnographic methods, interviews, and archival sources, it scrutinizes the nexus between governance and segregation, contextualizing it in a long history to shed light on how the city's form has been produced and reproduced over time. I argue that urban governance was, and still remains, a crucial factor in understanding the process and practices that gave rise to the emergence and perpetuation of segregation in the city. I also argue that the interaction between the state and the people can provide important clues in understanding Hargeisa's spatial character. For instance, the use of kinship as a means of negotiating access to services and support demonstrates how governance practices intersect with social dynamics in shaping the configuration and reconfiguration of the city. In so doing, the article deepens understanding of the interface between social, political, historical and spatial organization in the Somali peninsula.

Objectives: Understanding how immigrant young adults engage with civic society over time is critical to understanding and fostering healthy development and healthy democracies. The present study examines how civic engagement and antisocial attitudes/behavior of Somali young adult immigrants (ages 18-30, N = 498) in four North American regions co-occur, and change over time. Method: Using latent transition analyses, we examine latent classes of young adult males and females in relation to political and nonpolitical civic engagement and dimensions of antisocial attitudes/behavior and stability of these classes over 1 year. Results: Distinct latent classes were identified that remained consistent over time. Rates and patterns in latent class transitions varied along civically engaged/antisocial dimensions and also by gender. Conclusions: Antisocial attitudes/behavior can coexist with civic engagement. For males, sense of belonging to both Somali and American/Canadian communities was associated with lower levels of antisocial attitudes/behavior. Movement away from, or into, antisocial attitudes/behavior differs by gender and can happen either in the presence or absence of civic engagement. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Ethnic disparity in stillbirth and infant death has been demonstrated in Europe. As the relation between migration and health change over time, this population based register study investigated the recent figures and explored if potential differences could be explained by the well-known educational and income inequalities in stillbirth and infant death using a novel approach. Stillbirth and infant mortality varied considerably according to country of origin, with only immigrants from China, Norway, and Poland having an overall lower risk than Danish women. Women of Pakistani, Turkish, and Somali origin had a particularly high risk of both outcomes. Women from recent high conflict areas displayed a pattern with increased stillbirth risk. An observed excess risks across generations was found, which is disturbing and rule out factors related to language barriers or newness. Differences in educational level and household income explained only part of the observed inequalities. Strengthening of the maternity care system to better understand and meet the needs of immigrant women seems needed to mitigate the disparities.

In this project, we examine employers’ response to Black immigrants compared to native-born Black Americans. Between July 2017 and December 2018, we applied to publicly advertised positions using fictitious resumes that are manipulated on perceived race and ethnicity (Somali American, African American, and white American). We examine the proportion of resumes that are contacted by employers. We find that male African American applicants are 5 percentage points less likely to be contacted than equivalent white American applicants. Somali American applicants are 11 percentage points less likely to be contacted by employers than equivalent white American applicants and 6 percentage points less likely to be contacted than equivalent African American applicants. For female applicants, the effects followed a similar pattern, but were muted. Signals of language ability, education, and religiosity showed little impact on the proportion contacted by an employer.

Ethiopia has made a great effort in recent years to improve maternal, newborn, child health outcomes, however, the uptake of services in Somali Region of the country is still very low. The study was a cross-sectional descriptive survey using qualitative methods, and the participants were key individuals involved in the management of health systems and knowledgeable about on health service delivery in the study sites. The study aimed to explore the budgeting process at the woreda (district) level and its effect on the utilization of equitable quality health services in the region. The woreda health officers determined what is included in the budget of the health facilities without active participation of stakeholders such as health care providers or the community members. Their knowledge and understanding of the planning and budgeting processes varied and little or no support available to them. This suboptimal budgeting process impacts negatively on the quality of health care services being provided, with shortages of essential drugs identified as a major barrier affecting utilization. The need for better budgeting process at the woreda level which could perhaps involve a range of regional level, woreda level and citizen level measures and active participation. This include the implementation of clearer guidelines from regional level, maybe the introduction of standard formulae that ensures that each health centre receives certain percent of overall health budget and specific percentage to be allocated for drugs and supplies and other essential services instead of each woreda official deciding on how much is to allocated arbitrarily.

Somali immigrants are one of the largest African populations to resettle in the United States since 1990. There is an emerging literature base of disease-specific studies among Somali immigrants. However, we are aware of no studies on the health priorities for Somalis from the community’s perspective. Somali adults in Minnesota completed a survey conducted by a community-based participatory research partnership on individual and community health priorities. Data were reported as counts and frequencies. 646 participants completed the survey. The most important health issues for individuals and their families were health behaviors (22.7%), diabetes (18.2%), and hypertension (14.4%), while those of the community were diabetes (22.5%), hypertension (18.8%) and weight (15.9%). This study found a significant overlap of health priorities among Somali individuals and their families compared to the community. These health priorities underscore the need to focus on non-communicable diseases among Somali immigrants.

We examine whether employment discrimination increased after the 2016 presidential election in the United States. We submitted fictitious applications to publicly advertised positions using resumes that are manipulated on perceived race and ethnicity (Somali American, African American, and white American). Prior to the 2016 election, employers contacted Somali American applicants slightly less than white applicants but more than African American applicants. After the election, the difference between white and Somali American applicants increased by 8 percentage points. The increased discrimination predominantly occurred in occupations involving interaction with customers. We continued data collection from July 2017 to March 2018 to test for seasonality in discrimination; there was no substantial increase in discrimination after the 2017 local election.

Dadaab refugee camp, located in the northern part of Kenya, is currently the world’s largest refugee camp in both size and population. Having been in existence for more than 25 years since the outbreak of civil war in Somalia and the subsequent disintegration and demise of the Somali state, since its inception, the camp has been a home to refugees fleeing from war and famine, not only from Somalia but also from Uganda, Ethiopia, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Eretrea and Sudan. This paper analyses the news articles on the quest to close Dadaab refugee camp by the Kenyan Government. Applying the analytic and conceptual tools of critical discourse analysis (CDA), the paper argues that underlying the openly stated reasons for proposing a closure of the camp by the Government of Kenya are subtle and latent geopolitical and economic arguments which are majorly tangential to the refugee question itself; and also explicates how the identities of the refugees at Dadaab were constructed, reconstructed, contested, negotiated, enacted and reproduced through language as both the government of Kenya and the international community advanced their various positions with regard to the proposed closure. It emerges that the refugees themselves were reduced to mere passive observers in a process that was inherently meant to define and decide their destiny.

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 mul...

Purpose: This paper aims to analyze the impact of microfinance on the income and employment of women participants in Jigjig city. Design/Methodology/Approach: A survey of 146 active clients of the Somali Microfinance and Ray Microfinance in Jigjiga, Somali Regional State (Ethiopia), has been undertaken for this purpose. Statistical and econometric techniques are used to explore the impact of microfinance. Findings: It is found that microfinance credit positively affects income generation and employment level of women, and the impact on productive activities is higher, and it increases the income of women participants. Practical Implications: It concluded from the study that to maximize the benefits of MFIs, MFIs should develop a different approaching mechanism to deliver their services and products at large for the poorest of the poor, like having an appropriate selection mechanism of the poor in the scheme that emphasize women, less educated and rural poor people and it is advisable to have innovative product and service together with the formulation of enabling regulation. Originality/Value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no other paper attempted to study the impact of microfinance on women participants' income and employment in Jigjig city. This study will provide an opportunity for the policymaker to focus more on microcredit to help women for their upliftment.

Southern Somalia has attracted substantial military aid and assistance for decades. As the state disintegrated in the late 1980s, clan dynamics became more critical, warlords emerged, and power bas...

Ibrahim Ismail Muhumed,1 Jemal Yusuf Kebira,2 Myrla Obejero Mabalhin3 1Department of Midwifery, College of Medicine and Health sciences, Jig-jiga University, Jig-jiga, Ethiopia; 2School of Public Health, College of Health and Medical Sciences, Haramaya University, Harar, Ethiopia; 3School of Nursing and Midwifery, College of Health and Medical Sciences, Haramaya University, Harar, EthiopiaCorrespondence: Jemal Yusuf KebiraSchool of Public Health, College of Health and Medical Sciences, Haramaya University, P.O. Box. 235, Harar, EthiopiaTel +251929397101Fax +251256668081Email jemalyusuf496@gmail.comBackground: The burden of preterm birth is a serious public health concern contributing substantially to neonatal death and a significant cause of long-term loss of human potential. Despite the majority of preterm births have no clear risk factors, identifying factors shown to have an increased risk of preterm birth may have paramount importance in designing an effective intervention strategy. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of preterm birth and associated factors among mothers who gave birth in public hospitals of Fafen Zone, Somali region, Eastern Ethiopia.Methods: Facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted in public hospitals of Fafen Zone, Somali regional state, Eastern Ethiopia, from March 1st to April 1st, 2019. Systematic sampling technique has been used to select 607 immediate postnatal mothers with newborn. Data were collected by face-to-face interviewers using a structured and pretested questionnaire and reviewing the mother’s profile card. The outcome measure of interest was preterm birth. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses had been performed using SPSS version 20. Statistically significant association of variables had been claimed based on the Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) with its 95% CI and P-value < 0.05.Results: This study showed that 74 (12.3%) of a total of 600 Mothers gave preterm birth. Being a rural resident [(AOR=4.48, 95% CI: (1.39– 14.44)], having a history of abortion [(AOR=5.01, 95% CI: (1.86– 13.45)], having hypertensive disorder of pregnancy [(AOR=3.32, 95% CI: (1.08– 10.20)], being female sex [(AOR=8.32, 95% CI: (4.56– 17.05)], and being low birth weight of newborn [(AOR=3.80, 95% CI: (1.55– 9.82)] were found to be significantly associated with preterm birth.Conclusion: The prevalence of preterm birth in the study area was 12.3%. Different prenatal and newborn care intervention strategies shall consider the factors associated to improve pregnancy outcome and thereby reducing preterm related death in the study area.Keywords: preterm birth, prevalence, associated factors, Fafen, Somali, Ethiopia

Pre- and post-migration related factors are likely to influence integration outcomes of migrants. This study aimed to investigate which pre-migration factors (basic education and potentially traumatic experiences) and post-migration wellbeing factors (quality of life and loneliness) are associated with integration outcomes (employment status, language skills, voting, media use, having host country’s native friends, participation inleisure activities) of migrant background men and women. The Finnish Migrant Health and Wellbeing Study (Maamu) was used, including working-aged adults of Russian, Somali, and Kurdish origin. Each integration outcome was analysed by each predictive factor with logistic regression, separately for the three groups and separately for men and women. The integration outcomes were somewhat differently associated with pre- and post-migration factors in the different groups. All these aspects are important to be taken into account in integration discourse to promote both integration and social wellbeing.

In this article, we explore migrant Somali and Sudanese women’s reflections and decision-making regarding female genital cutting in a transnational context wherein women are compelled to maneuver between contradictory social norms. These include traditional norms, which consider the practice to be associated with socially acceptable sexuality and reproduction, and international norms, which consider the practice to be a violation of sexual and reproductive rights. Our analysis builds on data from in-depth interviews with 23 women of Somali and Sudanese origin residing in Norway. Informed by three central theories of change, we categorize women along a continuum of readiness to change ranging from rebellious women eagerly pursuing the abandonment of female genital cutting and adopting international norms regarding the practice, to women supporting the practice and its traditional meanings. Ambivalent contemplators were placed in the middle of the continuum. Women’s positioning was further interlinked with social networks and perceived decision-making power.

Community participation has been used in the developing world as a fallback when government efforts to establish schools and education within communities fail or are inadequate. The study was conducted in Somaliland—a state in the horn of Africa that is in the process or rebuilding schools and reestablishing education after the wanton destruction of the education infrastructure during the Somali civil war. With a school infrastructure regulatory policy having been established to set standards for school infrastructure, the study examined how community participation influenced the effect of school infrastructure policy implementation on the performance of construction projects in public primary schools. The study was set in Somaliland and targeted all public primary school headteachers in all the administrative regions and District Education Officers (DEO) in all the Districts. A cross-sectional survey guided by pragmatism, the study collected data from 20 DEOs and 247 headteachers. Headteachers filled questionnaires while DEOs were interviewed. Primary schools that reported low levels of community participation also realized a positive influence of school infrastructure policy implementation on the performance of construction projects, while schools that reported moderate and high levels of community participation did not. Community participation doesn’t only bring positive influences to projects but negative influences as well. Community participation has a significant low and negative partial moderation effect on the relationship between school infrastructure policy implementation and performance of construction projects. A linear model exists among the three variables.

Somalia is a state not like the other states in Africa, it’s a state that came into existence after the unification of British Somaliland and Italian Somalia. It was considered to be one of the most democratic and civilized country in the region. But the administration of that time took a very naive initiative to manage the circumstances. Due to the cold war and Ethiopia’s antagonistic design against the newly established state of the Somali Republic, Somalia was compelled to develop close relations with the USSR. The roles, stages and initial odds of Somalia’s foreign policy are discussed in this paper, with the use of primary and secondary sources of information. In conclusion, Somalia has limited options for its foreign policy, because of its financial position. Thus, the sovereignty of the country was compromised many times.

This paper scrutinizes property formalization as an integral part of state territorialization and demonstrates how bounded spaces are fused with political authority. Despite a long history of contestations over land in the Ethiopian Somali frontier, state law gained significance as a regulatory frame to grant and secure property rights of ethnic Somalis in the city of Jigjiga. In the city's land registry archive, this increased the amount of paperwork through which the relation between the Ethiopian state and Somali citizens has been remade under ethnic federal rule. Based on ethnographic and archival research in Jigjiga, this paper examines the writing practices and performances of land governance experts at different sites of paperwork where property relations are brought on paper and drawn together into law and institutional hierarchies. It reveals property formalization to consolidate state-citizen relations in symbolic and material form: in the city's expansion area where law is entangled within an emerging property landscape, and in the city's registry archive where legal documents are preserved. On that basis, this paper captures state formation as both a cultural and material process. It does so by highlighting the mediating role of bureaucratic actors and artifacts in the inscription of the state's symbolic languages in an emerging property landscape.

This article considers the relationship between livestock taxation and local state formation dynamics in the northern Somali territories. While the economic importance of livestock in Somalia is un...

Displacement is urbanizing. Urban violence increasingly contributes to displacement while a growing number of displaced people across the globe seeks refuge in cities. This article builds on original research in four Somali cities to explore the link between violence, displacement and urbanization. It identifies and comparatively explores three types of urban settlements of displaced people: urban camps at cities’ outskirts, inner‐city squatter settlements, and relocation areas. The focus of the analysis is on the political economy that underpins the establishment, maintenance and, at times, destruction of these settlements. The article shows that settlements of displaced people are embedded in varied practices of rent seeking which contribute to the commercialization of land and housing and lead to further land speculations. Urban reconstruction accelerates rent seeking and goes hand in hand with (mass‐scale) evictions of displaced people. The article also shows how land ownership is mobilized to retain political rights and citizenship. The findings outline the multiple ways urban land relations are intertwined with practices of sovereignty and citizenship, and attest to observations of a globally expanding rent economy. They also underscore the arbitrariness and violence imbricated in property relations.

Modern states and societies development can hardly be achieved without an appropriate policy and action that delivers greater economic outcomes. To this end, all states starting from the ancient times to the modern era practiced economic policies that rely greatly on the accumulation of wealth through different means of the production process that leads to extraction hence accumulation of wealth based on which the state builds and maintains its internal as well as external sovereignty. It was in yesterday this motive for achieving unlimited growth and accumulation of wealth that drives the first British East Indian company to open its first overseas production plant in India in the 18th century.Today the multiple economic social and technological imperative of investment and that of foreign direct investment have become clear. Foreign direct investment is the most important engine based on which sates economy gain income in terms of National Gross Domestic Production, foreign exchange earnings and employment opportunity as well as technological and capital transfer. To this end, countries compete for attracting capitals to flow to their economy in the form of investment. This has greatly benefited countries of South East Asia in the last couple of decades. Africa, though not benefited as much as the what the Asian tigers and other eastern economies gained from foreign direct investment, many of African states are striving to use the advantage of investment in their national endeavor to achieve economic and socio-political development .Yet, the pattern of the distribution of this gain from the foreign direct investment is limited in its scope and not enabled states to benefiting the different sections of their population equally.This problem of uneven distributions of gains from economic development has been common problem in many of the emerging economies.Ethiopia is not peculiar.Despite the progress made in atracting more investors to the national economy,the distribution of these has been uneven.Most of the FDI gains are concentrated in few clusters in the major regions of the country. One of the least benefited livelihhod and economic areas has been the pastoralist roaming areas. Comparatively speaking,thus far,the Somali regional state gained little or no foreign direct investment since the new EPRDF government came into power 30 years ago .This has been despite the region has a huge potential for making gain from FDI given that the required attention and intervention is made.This article makes a description of the investment potentials in Somali regional state baed on the political economy framework. The review concludes that The review fininds out that the region has a huge potential for investment given the right attention by both policymakers and investors.

My article focuses on the pilot of a Biometric Identity Management System (BIMS) for the distribution on in-kind aid in Kakuma refugee camp, in Kenya’s Turkana county, to examine the perception of biometric systems of verification by refugees. It explores how Somali refugees reflect on the implications of BIMS for their relations vis-à-vis humanitarian organizations, the Kenya state and other refugees, making sense of the humanitarian rationality tasked with both managing and policing populations in need. It thus argues that biopolitical technologies such as biometrics highlight, and heighten, the tension between care and surveillance as refugees challenge the official motives behind biometric infrastructures with counter-narratives situated in a specific socio-political milieu. Through an intense interpretative labor, which I captured in interviews and focus group discussions in Kakuma and Eastleigh, Nairobi, refugees open a crack in the apolitical veneer of humanitarianism, revealing, and challenging, the politics of biometrics.

The emergence of maritime piracy in the western Indian Ocean captured global attention from 2007 to 2012, resulting in simplistic and racialized representations of piracy in news and other media. In 2011, two diasporic Somali writers published literary works intervening in this representation: Nuruddin Farah’s novel Crossbones and Ubax Cristina Ali Farah’s essay “Un sambuco attraversa il mare” [“A dhow is crossing the sea”]. This essay reads Farah and Ali Farah’s alternative narratives of piracy through the Somali phrase burcad badeed, which both translate as ‘sea bandits’ or ‘pirates.’ As a method burcad badeed first historicizes contemporary piracy within the longue durée of the Indian Ocean world. Second, it draws on the ocean as an analogy and aggregator of dispersed forms of knowledge, thereby inviting comparative reading across conventional boundaries of generation, language, and form, and making visible practices of collective, embodied, and polyvocal knowledge production. Finally, burcad badeed complicates the distinctions between land and sea which undergird legal definitions of piracy to focalize particular landscapes: Namely the beach and the relationship between coast and hinterland. The beach foregrounds the ecological devastation to which piracy is a response, while the relationship between coast and hinterland frames practices of movement, complex racializations, and senses of belonging in Somalia and on the east African coast.

The Constitution of Kenya guarantees the promotion of customary justice systems. However, in many cases, the dictates of customary law are often in contravention with the progressive attitude embodied in the Constitution. The Constitution guarantees the right to equal treatment of men and women in social, political and cultural spheres. However, women in the Somali customary justice system do not enjoy this right. Women in the Somali customary justice system have no locus standi before any dispute resolution process and they cannot oversee the resolution of disputes as this position is reserved for the elders, who can only be men. Through Gary Becker’s theory on the economics of discrimination, this paper establishes, through an economic lens, that there is a prevailing cost to the Somali community for failing to include women in the processes of the customary justice system. It suggests a way forward of promoting inclusivity in line with the characteristics of customary law.

This paper examines the productive role of secrecy in the nexus of transnational mobility, kinship, and intimate relations among Ghanaian-Dutch and Somali-Dutch in the Netherlands. Whereas secrecy is typically understood as one person concealing knowledge from another, implying the latter’s passivity, we argue that secrecy depends on mutually constitutive interactions. Secrecy is explored as the result of an interaction between those who obscure knowledge in creative ways and those who maintain a not-knowing. The paper analyzes how people negotiate moral expectations regarding sexuality, respect, and loyalty, while also manoeuvring to fulfil their personal aspirations. Especially in kinship relations, when people are bound to each other by moral and social obligations, the management of secrecy often makes people mutually dependent. Secrecy is revealed as skillfully choreographing relations by the ebb and flow of information where kinship, respect, or love and (not-) knowing reinforce another.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between the drivers of intra-clan-based conflicts and the involvement of external actors that has remained indefinable in Garissa County. The three sub-counties: Garissa Township, Ijara and Fafi were purposively selected for the study because of prolonged and unresolved intra-clan conflicts coupled with militia group of Al-Shabaab attacks over the past years. Qualitative approach was used to seek understanding of drivers of intra-clan conflicts and involvement of violent extremism. The study involves primarily 35 Key Informants drawn from security agencies, Clan elders, Religious leaders and Civil societies across the three sub-counties. The study established that competition over natural resources: water; pasture and land are the main causes of intra-clan conflicts. The respondents attest that intra-clan conflicts have been accelerated by clan identity politics, poverty, illiteracy, unemployment and Al-Shabaab infiltration. The devolution has elevated competition for political leadership due to sharing of county resources and employment along the sub-clans. The study found some respondents attributing Kenya’s military operation in Somalia to reciprocal attacks by Al-Shabaab in the county. The research established that over the years, Somali clan conflicts and hostility have spilled over into North Eastern Kenya, creating security threat and undermining community peace and cohesion. The porous border of Kenya-Somali has made it easy for some sub-clans to communicate with their kinsmen’s counterparts and obtain guns that are readily available in Somalia. The perception of injustices and sense of marginalization amongst the Muslims have provided fertile ground for Al-Shabaab which has diverted attention of security agencies to violent extremism rather than clan conflicts. The study recommends enhancement of inclusive peace committee and collaboration of community with administration and security agencies to tie together peace. There is also a need for openness of politicians to advocate for impartiality, clan conflicts resolution and countering violent extremism through policy framework in the county assembly.

Purpose of the study: The aim of this study is to examine the role of AMISOM in Somalia's peacebuilding process in terms of disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) and reconciliation among Somali clans. Methodology: This study uses a descriptive design with document analysis to attain the research objectives. Secondary data is used. The data are collected from books, articles, journals, and literature on peacebuilding. Main findings: The results show that AMISOM has no significant role in disarming, demobilizing, and reintegrating clan militias into communities. The AMISOM reconciliation process has not succeeded to bring Somalis together to determine how key issues are negotiated. Application of this study: This research is useful for peacebuilding practitioners and government/policymakers in identifying the drivers, causes of armed conflicts in Somalia. Novelty and originality: While other studies focused on the impact of power-sharing in rebuilding the Somalia government, the present study examines the impact of DDR, tailored with reconciliation in clan co-existence and silencing clan conflicts.

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 o...

Violence prevention efforts must take into consideration the potentially stigmatizing labels associated with violence, and how youth perceive different types of violence in their communities. Somali communities and individuals in North America have at times been labeled as at-risk for violence, with two notable examples being gang violence and ideologically motivated violence, or violent radicalization. Little is known, however, about how the youth themselves think about and understand these types of violence in their communities. In this article, we seek to answer the following questions: How do Somali immigrants think about violence in their communities, and the stigma related to this violence? and What are the implications of these perceptions/beliefs for violence prevention? Data are drawn from two qualitative studies conducted as part of an ongoing community-based participatory research (CBPR) collaboration between academic partners and Somali communities in three cities in North America. Study 1 consists of nine focus groups ( n = 36, male only), and Study 2 consists of in-depth interviews ( n = 40, male and female). All participants are Somali young adults living in North America. Overall, radicalization to violence is seen as a remote and irrelevant issue in the Somali community. Participants distance themselves from the idea of radicalization to violence and from those who participate in radical acts or held such beliefs. In contrast, gang involvement is characterized as a major problem for Somali communities, and a product of the marginalization associated with being a refugee in Canada or the United States. Findings suggest that prevention efforts focused on gangs are more likely to be acceptable to communities than those focused on violent extremism.

Purpose This study aims to investigate the impact of the Brexit referendum on feelings of belonging and home among secondary migrant Somali families in the city of Birmingham. Here, the Brexit referendum is understood through the analytical framework of the politics of belonging in that it functioned as a political mechanism that demarcated who was able to belong and who was not. Design/methodology/approach This research was qualitatively designed, comprising 25 in-depth, semi-structured interviews that used a whole family methodological approach. In doing so, this paper considers how the referendum challenged notions of citizenship as well as community and individual identities. Findings For the families engaged, they experienced the referendum as a mechanism that immediately conveyed notions of “otherness” and “foreign-ness” onto them, thereby creating anxiety, uncertainty and instability. This paper argues that the emotional components of belonging were also challenged to the extent that feelings of security, safety and “home” became rendered meaningless through the disempowering impact of the referendum via the removal of autonomy and choice in the bonds that exist between people and places. Originality/value This paper generates new knowledge about the impact of the Brexit referendum. As “one-off” event, this research provides new insights into the political, social and cultural impacts of the vote. It considers a minority group that is seen to be hard to reach and thereby under-researched.

Vermont has a large population of Somali immigrants and previous research has shown outcome disparities in this population. Labor curves, pregnancy and delivery outcomes information is required and critical to optimize current labor management in an institution that provides obstetrical care for this population. Data were collected for both Somalia-born and non Somalia-born parturients in pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, delivery, neonatal and cervical change categories and were compared to non Somalia-born parturients to observe differences in demographic factors and outcomes as well as labor progress. Overall labor length trended differently between the two groups, the rate of preterm birth in the vaginal delivery group in the Somali population was much lower than the unmatched control group and overall more lacerations were noted. Findings are consistent with prior studies related to reduced preterm birth rate in Somalia-born women. Observation regarding refusal of care demonstrates need for targeted research related to concerns of Somali immigrants.

An ethnographic analysis of two interconnected cities for the Somali diaspora—Nairobi and Johannesburg—helps to uncover alternative narratives about the lives of Somali women and the ways they renegotiate their cultural and religious identities in diasporic contexts, moving beyond the widespread representation of Somali women in the global imagination as helpless victims. Using the domains of marriage and female circumcision, Ripero-Muñiz analyzes how these women exercise their agency while at the same time negotiating the cultural and religious practices of their community. By focusing on the ways in which Somali women re-negotiate their identities, this article helps to locate the agency of women in refugee and migrant communities in sub-Saharan Africa.

Host governments have responded to the migration of Somali refugees throughout Africa in recent decades in different ways. Kenyan policymakers have treated Somalis primarily as a security threat, imposing restrictions on them that especially target this group. In South Africa, where economic and political competition fuel xenophobia, Somalis are part of a larger foreign national population that is seen as having disproportionate economic influence. However, Somali Bantus have been welcomed in Tanzania, which granted them citizenship even as it limited the mobility and activities of other refugees. A comparative analysis suggests that the relative balance among security, economic, political, and normative considerations shapes the extent and scope of host government policies.

Refugee resettlement is accomplished through the intersecting administration of state and non-state actors with competing claims and interests. These competing claims are caught between humanitarian imperatives to rescue the most vulnerable refugees on one hand and security demands to protect national borders from those deemed undesirable and undeserving on the other. Based on ethnographic research with Somali refugees in Nairobi from 2013 to 2015, Balakian examines the ways in which refugees maneuver through an unsynchronized assemblage of institutions to which they are subject; she brings this assemblage into relief through ethnographic accounts of Somali refugees as they attempt to navigate the resettlement system and are simultaneously caught in Kenya’s 2014 anti-refugee security operations. Based on this case, the research demonstrates that being subject to multiple, competing governing bodies is central to the condition of statelessness in twenty-first century Africa.

This article focuses on mother tongue teaching in Arabic, Dari, Pashto and Somali as it is practised in a linguistically diverse primary school in Denmark. The article draws on a linguistic ethnogr...