This is a qualitative study on bilingualism from Somali children’s perspectives. It aims to examine how Somali-Swedish bilinguals understand their bilingual experiences in a Swedish context. It looks at questions that relate to their views on language use in family and peer group interactions, their attitude towards heritage language maintenance, and challenges they may face in their everyday bilingual experiences. Three interviews were carried out with six children of Somali background between the age of 12-15 years, interviewed in pairs, and the empirical data were subsequently analyzed thematically. The findings of the case study show that children have a high-level of awareness about achieving monolingual-like bilingualism. This is linked to their language investment in Somali and Swedish languages in order to be better members of both the Somali community and the Swedish society. From the interviews, it became clear that Somali and Swedish are equally important for their everyday life for a variety of reasons, including: maintaining healthy family relationships and bonds, continuing contact and ties with extended-family, developing ethnic and societal identities, and understanding and fostering friendship. However, many experienced challenges such as bullying and embarrassment as a result of, for instance, insufficient knowledge of their language or avoidance of using multiple languages in public for fear of being mocked. Furthermore, children are active agents in their learning and in acquiring proficiency in Somali and Swedish as they explain their choice of preserving their heritage while they negotiate with teachers to find a balance between language demands in the parental interactions and those with others in their ethnic group, and achieving native-like mastery of spoken Swedish.

It´s of great importance for both democracy and integration that people have an equal opportunity to participate in society. The main challenge today, which of course is even the greatest enemy of democracy and integration, is exclusion. Active forms of collaboration are required to meet this challenge. The purpose of this study was to evaluate Umea municipality´s investment in integration and investigate how immigrants who came to Umea a number of years ago today experience their own integration into Swedish society. This study was conducted with qualitative strategy of individual semi-structured interviews. The result shows that 6 of 8 users were very satisfied with the way our Umea municipality received them and helped them to get into society and out into the labor market. Much of this was due to municipal initiative with different meeting places for immigrants and Umea citizens, which had a very positive impact on the social network of immigrants.

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Der Afar-Issa/Somali-Konflikt ist ein schwer lösbarer Konflikt am Horn von Afrika. Der Konflikt dauert seit mehr als einem Jahrhundert an. Er ist extrem gewalttätig und fordert viele unschuldige Menschenleben. Beide Seiten sind der Meinung, dass er nicht friedlich gelöst werden kann, da er mit hohen psychologischen, militärischen und wirtschaftlichen Investitionen verbunden ist, die von beiden Parteien als wesentliches und grundlegendes Ziel für ihr Überleben als Gemeinschaft angesehen werden. Bei allen Versuchen, den Konflikt zu lösen, wurden nie Kompromisse oder Zugeständnisse in Erwägung gezogen. Der Konflikt ist insofern von zentraler Bedeutung, als sowohl die Afar- als auch die Issa/Somali-Gemeinschaften einschließlich ihrer Diaspora ständig und kontinuierlich in den Konflikt verwickelt sind. Der Konflikt zeichnet sich auch durch seine Komplexität aus, die eine transnationale Dimension hat, die politische Akteure an den Grenzen von Äthiopien, Dschibuti, Eretria und Somalia/Somaliland einbezieht, sowie durch die Vielfalt der beteiligten Akteure, einschließlich der Diaspora und anderer internationaler Akteure. Verschiedene Wissenschaftler haben den Konflikt aus verschiedenen Blickwinkeln erklärt: Der Wettbewerb um knappe pastorale Ressourcen ist das vorherrschende Interpretationsschema; ein Ressourcenkonflikt zwischen zwei benachbarten pastoralen Gruppen um Wasser und Weideland (Ali 1997; Markakis 2003); andere Studien erklären den Konflikt aus einer geopolitischen Perspektive (Mu'uz 2009; Yasin 2011). Der Afar-Issa/Somali-Konflikt wird auch mit wirtschaftlichen Aspekten erklärt, insbesondere mit dem Wettbewerb um den Schmuggelhandel und die Handelsrouten (Markakis 2003; Menbere 2013). Andere Wissenschaftler erklären den Konflikt als einen Territorialkonflikt, der durch das ethnische Design der äthiopischen und dschibutischen (nicht direkt ethnischen) Föderationen, die seit 1992 eingerichtet wurden, noch verschärft wird (Asnake 2009). Obwohl all diese Studien ein gewisses Licht auf die Natur des Afar-Issa/Somali-Konflikts geworfen haben, wurde er in keiner von ihnen als unlösbarer Konflikt betrachtet. Unter Berücksichtigung der Langlebigkeit und Komplexität des Konflikts und unter Rückgriff auf den sozialpsychologischen Analyserahmen für die Untersuchung hartnäckiger Konflikte (Northrup & Thorson, 1989; Kriesberg 1995; Bar-Tal, 2013) wurde der Afar-Issa/Somali-Konflikt in der Studie als eine Art hartnäckiger Konflikt betrachtet. Mit dem Schwerpunkt auf seiner Hartnäckigkeit analysierte die Studie die sozialpsychologischen Grundlagen des Afar- und Issa/Somali-Konflikts, insbesondere die kollektiven Erinnerungen (sowohl populär als auch offiziell), kollektive emotionale Orientierungen und das Ethos der Afar-Issa/Somlai. Darüber hinaus analysierte die Studie, wer die regionalen Akteure sind und warum viele Konfliktlösungsversuche gescheitert sind, um den hartnäckigen Konflikt zwischen Afar und Issa/Somali zu lösen, und argumentierte, dass der konstruktivistische Ansatz für seine Lösung geeignet ist. Konkret wurden in der Studie unter Berücksichtigung der Langlebigkeit und Komplexität des Konflikts und unter Rückgriff auf den sozialpsychologischen Analyserahmen für die Untersuchung hartnäckiger Konflikte die Ursachen, Akteure und Ereignisse des Afar-Issa/Somali-Konflikts als eine Art hartnäckiger Konflikt analysiert. Dabei stützt sich die Studie auf den sozialpsychologischen Analyserahmen von Daniel Bar-Tal (2013) für die Untersuchung hartnäckiger Konflikte, der das kollektive Gedächtnis der Konfliktparteien, das Konfliktethos und die kollektive emotionale Orientierung der Afar- und Issa/Somali-Bevölkerung an dem Konflikt untersucht. Dabei wurden die folgenden grundlegenden Fragen untersucht: Was sind die eigentlichen Ursachen des Afar-Issa/Somali-Konflikts? Wer sind die Akteure, die behaupten, die Ansichten und Interessen der Afar und Issa/Somali zu vertreten? Welche Rolle spielen die externen Akteure in dem Konflikt? Wie hat sich der Charakter des Konflikts im Laufe der Zeit verändert? Wie nehmen die Afar und die Issa/Somali die Konfliktsituation wahr und wie definieren sie sie? Werden die strittigen Fragen in existenziellen Begriffen formuliert, etwa mit Bezug auf Identität und Geschichte? Was macht den Afar-Issa/Somali-Konflikt unlösbar? Welches sind die offiziellen und kollektiven Erinnerungen, das Konfliktethos und die kollektive emotionale Ausrichtung des Konflikts? Welches sind die wichtigsten gesellschaftlichen Überzeugungen: gesellschaftliche Ziele, Selbstbilder, Mythen, kollektive Erinnerungen, Normen und Gruppenbilder bei den Afar und den Issa/Somali, die für die Bewältigung des hartnäckigen Konflikts funktional sind und ideologische Rechtfertigungen für die Fortsetzung des Konflikts liefern? Welches sind die wichtigsten regionalen Akteure des unlösbaren Konflikts zwischen Afar und Issa/Somali? Was ist ihr Engagement in dem Konflikt? Was sind ihre Bedürfnisse? Welche Rolle haben diese regionalen Akteure in dem hartnäckigen Konflikt zwischen den Afar und den Issa/Somali gespielt? Was sind die Bedingungen der verschiedenen Konfliktlösungsinterventionen durch staatliche und nichtstaatliche Akteure? Warum sind die verschiedenen Konfliktlösungsmaßnahmen gescheitert? Welche Aussichten gibt es, den Afar-Issa/Somali-Konflikt zu transformieren? Welches Modell der Konfliktlösung und -transformation ist das geeignetere? Das Forschungsdesign für diese Studie ist ein qualitativer Untersuchungsansatz, der explorative und erklärende Forschungstypen kombiniert und eine Fallstudie verwendet. In Bezug auf die Untersuchung kombiniert die Studie deskriptive und erklärende Ansätze. Beim deskriptiven Untersuchungsansatz beschreibt die Studie die Phänomene, wie sie existieren. Beim erklärenden Untersuchungsansatz geht die Studie über die bloße Beschreibung der Merkmale hinaus, um zu analysieren und zu erklären, warum oder wie die Fälle im hartnäckigen Afar-Issa/Somali-Konflikt entstanden sind. Was den Forschungsansatz betrifft, so wurde in der Studie eine Fallstudie verwendet, und zwar eine Mehrfach-Fallstudie. Da sich die Konfliktdynamik der Afar und der Issa/Somali innerhalb und außerhalb der Gruppe herausgebildet und kristallisiert hat, wurde ein qualitativer, eingebetteter Ansatz mit mehreren Fallstudien unter Verwendung von Interviews mit Schlüsselinformanten, Fokusgruppendiskussionen und Dokumentenanalyse als Datenquelle verwendet. Um die erforderlichen Daten zu erhalten, bediente sich der Forscher einer Reihe von Datenerhebungsmethoden: Befragung von Schlüsselinformanten, Fokusgruppendiskussionen (FGD), Regierungsarchive für offizielle Aufzeichnungen und Überprüfung von Sekundärquellen, um die erforderlichen Daten zu erhalten.:Acknowledgement Acronym and Glossary List of Figures, Maps and Official Memories Abstract and Keywords Chapter One: Introduction and Background of the Study 1.1. Introduction 1.2. The Research Problem 1.3. Objective of the Research 1.4. Research Questions 1.5. Research Design and Methodology 1.5.1. Data Collection Method 1.5.2. Sampling Process 1.5.3. Data Analysis 1.6. Significance of the Study 1.7. Limitation and Problems Encountered 1.8. Structure of the Study Chapter Two: Literature Review of Concepts and Topical Issues 2.1. Introduction 2.2. Conceptual Framework 2.2.1. Definition, Type and Nature of Conflict 2.2.2. The Concept of Intractability and Intractable Conflict 2.2.3. Characteristics of Intractable Conflicts 2.2.4. Challenges of Intractable Conflicts: Why different, why difficult to resolve? 2.3. Theoretical Framework of Intractable Conflicts 2.3.1. Socio-psychological Foundations of Intractable Conflicts 2.3.2. Conflict Resolution Theories: Are they Fit to Resolve Intractable Conflicts? 2.3.3. From Intractable Conflict to its Resolution 2.3.4. A Constructivist Approach for Intractable Conflict - Conclusion Chapter Three: The Land, Peoples and the Socio-Political Dynamics of the Afar and Issa/Somali 3.1. Introduction 3.2. The Land and Peoples of the Study Area 3.3. The Afar and the Issa/Somali Peoples 3.3.1. The Afar People in Ethiopia, Djibouti and Eritrea 3.3.2. The Issa/Somali People in Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia - Conclusion Chapter Four: Intricacies of the Afar-Issa/Somali Intractable Conflict 4.1. Introduction 4.2. Historical Background of the Afar-Issa/Somali Conflict 4.2.1. Historical Background of the Afar-Issa/Somali Conflict in Ethiopia 4.2.2. Historical Background of the Afar-Issa/Somali Conflict in Djibouti 4.3. Causes of Afar-Issa/Somali Intractable Conflict 4.3.1. Causes of the Afar-Issa/Somali Intractable Conflict in Ethiopia 4.3.2. Causes of the Afar-Issa/Somali Intractable Conflict in Djibouti - Conclusion Chapter Five: Social-Psychological Foundations of the Afar-Issa/Somali Intractable Conflict 5.1 Introduction 5.2. Collective Memories of the Afar and the Issa/Somali Intractable Conflict 5.2.1. The Popular Collective Memories of the Intractable Conflict 5.2.2. The Official Collective Memories of the Conflict 5.3. The Social Belief of the Afar-Issa/Somali Intractable Conflict 5.4. Collective Emotional Orientations of the Afar-Issa/Somali Intractable Conflict Conclusion Chapter Six: The Geopolitics of the Horn of Africa and the Intractability of the Afar-Issa/Somali Conflict 6.1. Introduction 6.2. Regional Dynamics of the Afar-Issa/Somali Intractable Conflict 6.3. The Geo-Politics of the Horn of Africa: The Pre, During and Post-colonial Periods 6.3.1. The Pre-Colonial Period of the Horn of Africa 6.3.2. Colonialism in the Horn of Africa and the Afar-Issa/Somali Intractable Conflict 6.3.3. The End of the Colonial Era and Its Impact on the Afar-Issa/Somali Intractable Conflict 6.3.4. The Post-Colonial Reconfiguration of the Horn and its Impact on the Afar-Issa/Somali Intractable Conflict 6.4. Regional Actors and the Afar-Issa/Somali Intractable Conflict 6.4.1. Government of Ethiopia 6.4.2. Government of Djibouti 6.4.3. Government of Eritrea 6.5. Regional Wars and the Afar-Issa/Somali Intractable Conflict 6.5.1. Ethiopia-Somalia Wars 6.5.2. Ethiopia-Eritrea War 6.5.3. Djibouti-Eritrea War 6.5.4. Somalis Internal Instability and Long Time Statelessness 6.5.5. The Afar Nationalism: Movement for Unified Afar Triangle 6.5.6. Three Countries, One Customary Leader: The Influence of the Issa/Somali Ugas 6.6. The Afar and the Issa/Somali Diaspora and its Engagement in the Intractable Conflict 6.6.1. The Afar Diaspora and the Intractable Conflict 6.6.2. The Issa/Somali Diaspora and the Intractable Conflict - Conclusion Chapter Seven: Conflict Resolution Attempts of the Afar-Issa/Somali Intractable Conflict 7.2. Customary Conflict Resolution Attempts of the Conflict 7.3. Governmental Conflict Resolution Attempts 7.3.1. Government of Ethiopia’s Conflict Resolution Attempts 7.3.2. The Attempt by the Government of Djibouti to resolve the Afar-Issa Intractable conflict 7.4. Non-Governmental Organizations Attempt of Conflict Resolution of the Afar and Issa/Somali 7.5. The Afar and Issa/Somali Diaspora Contributing for Peace 7.6. Constructivist Approach for Afar – Issa/Somali Intractable Conflict Resolution Chapter Eight: Summary and Conclusion 8.1. Introduction 8.2. Summary of Major Findings of the Study 8.3. Conclusion of Major Findings of the Study 8.4. Suggestions for Future Research Bibliography Annexes Annex I. List of Primary Sources Annex II. Information Sheet for Interview Participants Annex III. Consent Form for Interview Participants Declaration

The aim of this study is to gain an understanding of how experiences of sexual-health counseling and sex education are described by young Somali women in Sweden. Further the study aims at finding the best practices when it comes to offering sexual-health counseling in a multiethnic setting; in respect of, what should be communicated, where, how and by whom sex education and counseling should be given.Previous studies indicate that young immigrant women have less access to sexual health-care services. Discussing sexual matters is traditionally taboo among Somalis and a girl who gets pregnant before marriage runs the risk of being excluded from the Somali community. Therefore issues on sexual health are of utmost importance for the well-being of this group.Data were conducted through focus-group discussions and interviews with twelve young Somali women in Sweden. The women’s experiences showed that access to sexual health care services is limited by traditional values demanding chastity and modesty in women. School is perceived as the best place for discussing sexual-health matters. However most participants considered the sex education they received in school to be poor. Participants reported that sex and related attitudes, sexual consequences (from a medical as well as a social perspective) and female circumcision are issues that need to be addressed. The youngest women also expressed a need to understand and address the conflicting sexual norms adolescents have to deal with in a more religious and culturally diverse setting.

​​A massive challenge presents for host countries to manage and integrate incoming displaced people. East Africa is one of the sub-Saharan African regions experiencing an enormous refugee influx. Somalis and South Sudan refugees are a majority and are estimated to represent 80% of the refugees in Kenya; the Somali refugee crisis in Kenya is a significant problem, housing more than 200 000 Somali refugees in camps and cities. This field study aims to comprehend the integrating experience of urban Somali refugees within the scope of durable solutions. The study seeks to understand how various individual, family, and clan ties and characteristics aid urban Somali refugee integration. The theories chosen to guide this research is Sen's capability approach along with the social capital theory. This thesis has been delimited to only focus on the Urban Somali refugees living in East Leigh, Nairobi neighborhood. According to recent research, urban Somali refugees often need help with obtaining the necessary documentation to live freely and fully in their host countries. This lack of official documentation can pose significant barriers to accessing necessities such as housing and employment, making it challenging for refugees to integrate fully into their new communities. Additionally, refugees face discrimination and xenophobia, which can further impede their integration efforts. Interestingly, the study found that clan affiliation was crucial in facilitating integration, even more so than factors such as gender or social class.

Background: The first wave of Somali-Canadian refugees arrived in the 1990s following the civil war, with many settling in Toronto. First generation Somali-Canadians faced significant discrimination and settlement challenges. Previous research on Canada immigrants found that second generation youth tend to have a bright socioeconomic outlook. However, this outlook is not so certain for Somali-Canadian youth as they face unique long-term challenges with systemic barriers. Additionally, the pandemic has disproportionately impacted Black communities. Thus, it is important to explore how the pandemic has impacted the employment and health of Somali-Canadian youth living in Rexdale. Methods: Through an IPA approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 8 Somali-Canadian youth between the ages of 18-25 living in the Rexdale neighbourhood. The interviews were then analyzed through the IPA perspective to generate themes. Results: Somali-Canadian youth experience precarious employment, unsafe working conditions, lost income, faced financial difficulties and an increased risk of exposure to COVID-19. Furthermore, these impacts were exacerbated by living with large families and immunocompromised family members. Participants accessed government COVID-19 supports but some were ineligible due to precarious work or concerns associated with accessing governmental assistance. The pandemic negatively impacted the mental health of youth due to financial worries, educational and interpersonal challenges, and cultural stigma. Additionally, the intersectional identities of the participants resulted in limited choices and access to coping strategies. Conclusions: In order to improve the physical and mental wellbeing of Somali-Canadian youth, and those who share their experiences, there needs to be greater investments into the social determinants of health including employment, healthcare, housing, income, and education. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / In the 1990s, Somali refugees arrived in Canada following a civil war, with many settling in Toronto. The first wave of Somali refugees faced discrimination and settlement challenges. Generally, children of immigrants have a bright socioeconomic outlook. However, second-generation Somali-Canadian youth face unique challenges and systemic barriers. This study explores how the pandemic impacts the health and employment of the Somali-Canadian youth living in Rexdale. Eight semi-structured interviews with youth aged 18-25. The findings illustrated impacts such as precarious employment, unsafe work, lost income, and increased risk of exposure to COVID-19. The mental health of the youth was negatively impacted due to financial worries, educational and interpersonal challenges, and cultural stigma. Sadly, the intersectional identities of the participants resulted in limited choices and access to coping strategies. To improve the health and wellbeing of Somali-Canadian youth, there needs to be greater investments into the social determinants of health including employment, healthcare, housing, income, and education.

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