This thesis examines the 'public sphere' of state reconstruction and political conflict across the Somali territories through comparative discursive and contextual analysis of media production and consumption on the ground in Somalia. Using Somali-language media sources - including political cartoons, editorials, radio broadcasts and audio-visual propaganda - the chapters cumulatively present a dual conceptualisation of the public sphere in the Somali context. Here, local media production centred in individual capitals of various political projects (The Somali Federal Government, Somaliland and Puntland) coexists and overlaps with a transnational arena of Somali-language broadcasting and debate from various externally-based media producers. These range from the British Broadcasting Corporation‟s Somali Service and popular diaspora-based satellite television stations, to sophisticated 'jihadi' propagandists, or individual geographically-detached cartoonists. Internationalised dynamics of economic and political change across the territories render distinctions between 'diasporic' and 'local' media production analytically unhelpful. At the same, ongoing popular rhetorical contestation over 'foreign' influence ensures an ostensibly paradoxical (and politically salient) discursive resilience of a culturally and religiously-defined 'Somali Ummah' across and beyond political boundaries. Although significant academic attention has been directed towards the role of decentralized 'new' or 'social' media and possibilities for civic agency vis-á-vis coherent, authoritarian state structures, the thesis argues that the Somali case highlights the significance of such public sphere technologies in altering discursive, political and security conditions for state (re)construction in socially fragmented and conflict scarred environments.

The aim of the study is to look at the social formative processes of the Somali-Canadian youths, known as the ‘say-wallahi’ generation, go through. My research primarily focuses on how I learned to survive as a racialized person in the White Canadian nation space by holding onto my Somali identity, and how my journey diverges and converges with Somali-Canadian youth. First, I examine how the media socially constructed the Somali identity through a colonial gaze in a Toronto Life article. Secondly, I narrate some of my own schooling experiences for they speak to the deep psychological and spiritual scars that I embody as a racialized Somali. Especially, my interest is to show how instrumental Somali dhaqan was to my survival of the colonial/racializing gaze. Finally, I stress the importance of and the need for Somali youth to engage in de-colonizing/ de-racialization processes that encompasses their re-discovery of their indigenous Somaliness.

The aim of the study is to look at the social formative processes of the Somali-Canadian youths, known as the ‘say-wallahi’ generation, go through. My research primarily focuses on how I learned to survive as a racialized person in the White Canadian nation space by holding onto my Somali identity, and how my journey diverges and converges with Somali-Canadian youth. First, I examine how the media socially constructed the Somali identity through a colonial gaze in a Toronto Life article. Secondly, I narrate some of my own schooling experiences for they speak to the deep psychological and spiritual scars that I embody as a racialized Somali. Especially, my interest is to show how instrumental Somali dhaqan was to my survival of the colonial/racializing gaze. Finally, I stress the importance of and the need for Somali youth to engage in de-colonizing/ de-racialization processes that encompasses their re-discovery of their indigenous Somaliness.

Somali women have suffered at the hands of the patriarchy for as long as they have known. It is well established that the civil war in 1991 created irreparable damage to the Somali people. Nevertheless, it opened doors for women to experience autonomy for the first time. The impact it has had on the men has been contrasting, causing them to separate from their manhood. This thesis aimed to determine how migration has solved the empowerment-disempowerment dichotomy Somali women have faced for centuries. To do this, we will explore the dynamics of maternal politics, using a concept referred to as political motherhood. We then utilised political motherhood and conducted a qualitative analysis using four semi-structured interviews with a prominent group known as the “Mothers of Rinkeby” internationally. These women have been working to prevent crime in Rinkeby. Our results show a considerable correspondence between fleeing Somalia and how women of the Somali diaspora long to dismantle the patriarchal values deeply ingrained in their culture. Meanwhile, the husbands and fathers are absent. We conclude that Somali diaspora women are not only empowered now, but they are working to change the flawed patriarchal system upheld in Somali culture.

Dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts by research in Political Science Graduate School for Humanities and Social Sciences University of the Witwatersrand March 2019 / Somalia has been described as a “state without a state” or a “nation in search of state” since the end of colonial rule and the subsequent total collapse of the postcolonial state in 1991 (Samatar and Laitin, 1989, Newman, 2009, Menkhaus, 2003). Scholars have been attempting to locate the source of the conflict and ways of reconstructing the Somali state, describing the Horn of Africa nation not only as an archetype of a failed state, but also a threat to regional and global security. Since the arrival of European invaders, Somalia’s inhabitants have routinely been referred to as the most “difficult race to pacify” (Beech, 1996:5). The repetition of these colonial tropes which are consistently reported in the contemporary literature on Somalia is not surprising because of two consistent elements in the Somali conflict which ought to be probably understood. First, the population’s strong attachment to Islam has resulted in the country’s historical transformation into indigenous political Islam, a phenomenon that is “downplayed and understudied,” in the historiographic accounts of Somalia (Abdullahi, 2011:16). In this vein, I argue that the forced secularisation of Somalia, from the colonial era to the current attempts to create a secular state, has been at loggerheads with popular indigenous Islam in this Horn of Africa nation. This popular Islam attracts the presence of a global force that has been attempting to steer Somalia away from its indigenous identity to a more secular notion of the state. Arising from these hypotheses, the dissertation aims to establish the continuities between Somalia’s current political instability, its past and political loyalty, by exploring Islam as both an ethnicised identity and defence mechanism. While investigating the role of Islam in shaping the social and political Somali identity, I historicise Ahmad Gurey’s war with Abyssinia and the Portuguese empire in 1500s, and Sayid Maxamad’s confrontations with colonial powers: Britain, France, Italy and Abyssinia in 1900. Finally, I explore the tension between the formation of the secular postcolonial state and indigenous Islam. The research attempts to trace the present turmoil and investigate the role of popular Islam in “inviting” foreign powers to the Somali peninsula, thus arresting the process of domestic state reconstruction / M T 2019

STUDENT NUMBER: 0407481N SCHOOL FOR HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES MASTER OF ARTS IN FORCED MIGRATION STUDIES / Proponents of migrants rights often posit that distinct legislation not only secure migrants rights in host countries, but also enhance the ideals of liberal democracies in which policing is regulated by the rule of law, impartiality and respect for due process. The potential for discrimination by host communities to some categories of migrants is deemed to underscore the importance of migration laws. Critics argue that such laws undermine the very rights they are supposed to protect in that they set different standards for the treatment of migrants. In this study, based on evidence from research with Somali migrants in Johannesburg, South Africa, study I argue that legal documents as evidence of legal status have little significance in the policing of migrants. This paradox can be explained by three main reasons; first, the issuance, retention and renewal of these documents is characterized by irregularities and corruption that undermine the legitimacy of the document, giving the police enough grounds for suspicion. Second the political and social context in which policing of migrants is done undermines the significance of their legal status. The anti-migration sentiment among the nationals effectively sets different standards for policing of migrants. Third, the legal framework gives the police the dual and potentially conflicting responsibilities of regulating migration on the one hand and protecting migrants on the other hand. The police have taken their regulation responsibility to be synonymous with that of gate-keeping whereby migrants are separated and denied access to government services. This role of gate – keeping is manipulated by the police for their own ends while citizens and politicians directly or indirectly sanction their extra-legal actions when dealing with migrants.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Michigan State University. Dept. of Curriculum, Teaching and Educational Policy, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on July 6, 2009) Includes bibliographical references (p. 173-181). Also issued in print.

This thesis explores the experiences of the health care system for East African refugees in Boston. I argue that refugee experiences lie on a spectrum ranging from inadequate to exceptional, and that by exploring what makes care both a negative and positive experience for refugees it may be possible to better serve the community. I conceptualize these experiences using the metaphor of a rope bridge: at the beginning, refugees are stuck in a formal structure that limits their movements and agency; throughout the middle, they are forced into a liminal space in which both their identity and experiences are made ambiguous; on the far end of the bridge; they have mitigated the deleterious effects of structural violence and liminality through practices involving selective acculturation, resilience, and self-verification. My participants reported being dissatisfied with the bureaucratic barriers to health care they encountered and with the power imbalances they felt when interacting with clinicians. They also spoke about the encounters they had with clinicians that made them feel listened to, cared for, and empowered. Much of the distinction between good and bad care relied on whether the patient felt like they were respected by their doctor, and whether they felt like they had a say in their own care and treatment. Due to the limited nature of this endeavor, further research is recommended on: 1) the role of memory in recovery; 2) liminality as it applies to the resettlement experience; 3) maintaining and bolstering the assets that allow refugees to mitigate the effects of structural violence; and 4) in what ways the health care system is working for refugees, and how those can be expanded upon.

Since the dawn of democracy, South Africa has received high numbers of refugees from around the African continent in particular. One of the largest groups of refugees, Somalis, have established numerous enterprises in South African cities, concentrated in micro and small business sectors, particularly in the grocery and textile industries. The presence of Somali entrepreneurs and their role in the South African economy is contested, framed in relation to township informal economies and debates on xenophobia. Research to-date, however, focuses almost exclusively on Somali informal micro-enterprises in the spaza shop sector. To address this gap in the research and debate, this thesis examines Somali entrepreneurs, their development of varied formal enterprises, and their business strategies. I demonstrate in that these small formal businesses operate beyond the micro township-based informal spaza sector, building networks between township and city formal economies, and linking multiple economic sectors. In doing so, they act as a medium between producers of goods and general city consumers. The research demonstrates that Somali immigrant entrepreneurs can be considered what Bonacich (1973) describes as “middleman minorities.” This argument builds on qualitative research in Cape Town with Somali refugees who own formal small businesses that employ between five and a hundred employees. I draw on their histories, examine the evolution of their businesses, to substantiate how as newcomers - refugees, with limited knowledge about South African business dynamics, and little access to resources of the country - they managed to find their feet in business in varied ways. I show how Bellville as Cape Town’s Little Mogadishu, acts as a business hub and melting pot, a place to meet, to work together and connect their businesses to the rest of the city. From these histories, experiences, and networks, I analyse the business strategies that Somali entrepreneurs draw on, which include partnerships, shareholding, the building of trust, and their own mobility. I also investigate what enabled them to get a foot in the door when they first arrived, find new business opportunities, and access new markets in the city, region, and in some cases beyond. I argue that Somali immigrant entrepreneurs have created a diverse set of complex formal businesses, ranging from the sale of textiles, the processing of animal products, to consumer household goods. Through these businesses, these entrepreneurs have created jobs, new economic networks, new products, and extended markets, as well as physical retail and wholesale spaces. In making this argument, this research offers a better understanding of entrepreneurial work and its logics in the Cape Town Somali immigrant community. Their own experiences as entrepreneurs, as well as their business strategies, exceed by far narratives of informality, the spaza shop sector, and experiences of violence and xenophobia. This research broadens understandings of immigrant entrepreneurial activity in South African cities, and shift existing negative perceptions that depict refugees and immigrants as burdens on host communities and cities. I hope the research might also help inform the formulation of relevant policies for transitioning informal micro-enterprises in the country into small formal enterprises, one strategy that might address the critical issue of high unemployment in South African cities and society.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-92).