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Begin New Search Political Geography Australia Journal Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies

1. Developing a Somali Dictionary Application

Author:
Nick Thieberger and Nadia Faragaab
Publication Date:
05-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
New technologies offer access to unprecedented amounts of information and, while the equitable cost of access has been a major problem for distribution of such information, which is now changing. Mobile devices are becoming cheaper so more people from a wider range of backgrounds and speaking a wider range of languages are using the Internet. Support for the many less commonly spoken languages of the world has become a focus in the academic discipline of linguistics. This includes developing a presence for these languages on the web and in mobile devices. This brief report discusses one such example: the Somali-English Dictionary application (app), released in June 2014 by a Melbourne, Australia, team headed by the Somali artist Nadia Faragaab.
Political Geography:
Australia, Somalia, and Melbourne

2. Integration Experiences and Youth Perspectives: An Exploratory Study of School-Going Somali Youth in Melbourne, Australia and Minneapolis, Minnesota

Author:
Yusuf Sheikh Omar
Publication Date:
06-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
This brief study explores Somali youth experiences and perceptions of integration experiences in the school context, comparing the differences and similarities of those who live in Melbourne and Minneapolis. Additionally, the study touches on parents' experiences with their children's attitudes in the new environment. Based on interviews with Somali youth from the cities of Melbourne, Australia, and Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States, they are generally aspirants to, and positive about, the current and future educational opportunities they have in Australia and the United States. Those from Minneapolis tend to articulate these opportunities more clearly. Youth and parents agree that Somali girls perform better at school compared to boys. Students' preferences for post-secondary programs are varied but the most popular reason is to help Somali people who are in difficult situations because of the protracted civil war. Both student groups from Melbourne and Minneapolis mentioned several educational challenges. Girls believe that parents pushing their daughters to marry early is the biggest obstacle that may prevent them from continuing further studies and future professional work. Whether they are in or out of school, most Somali students who participated in this study are friends primarily with other Somali youth because of cultural and religious affinities, with the added benefit of pleasing their parents. Finally, with the exception of two girls, Somali youth in this study feel they have been fairly treated by their teachers.
Political Geography:
United States, Australia, Somalia, Melbourne, Minneapolis, and Minnesota

3. Somali Youth in Diaspora: A Comparative Study of Gender Perceptions of Further Studies and Future Career (Case Study: Somali Youth in Melbourne, Australia)

Author:
Yusuf Sheikh Omar
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
This study explores the educational and employment goals of a sample of Somali adolescents in high schools in Melbourne, Australia, comparing male and female perspectives. It also identifies the barriers Somali students face in defining and achieving their goals, and develops a set of recommendations aimed at assisting Somali students to achieve these goals.
Political Geography:
Australia, Somalia, and Melbourne

4. Beginning Again: From Refugee to Citizen

Author:
Ahmed I Samatar
Publication Date:
07-2004
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
A key feature of this phase of globalization is a speedy catalyzation of a heretofore unseen degree of human mobility and cultural interpenetration. Unlike the earlier epochs in the making of the modern world (16th through the early 20th-century), when Europeans were the main groups leaving their homelands to find better lives in other parts of the word, the contemporary era is witness to a dramatic reversal movement. Many in Africa, Central and South America, and Asia have come or are earnestly planning to lift their heels for the “old” West (even to Southern and Eastern Europe) and “neo-Europe” (e.g., the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand). The phenomenal arrival of tens of thousands of Somalis in the United States within the last two decades (first as a trickle and then in larger numbers since the 1990s) is to a great extent part of this trend. It is a happening that is, in one sense, part of an old story, as President Roosevelt correctly asserted, and a continuous aspect in the quintessential making of these United States, marked by the settlement of people from almost every region of the world. As a matter of fact, since the passage of the Immigration Act of 1965 and the Refugee Act of 1980, more than twenty million legal immigrants have entered the U.S. A dramatic demographic consequence of these flows of people, according to the 2000 U.S. Census, is this: At present, those Americans who are foreign-born and their children compose around one-fifth of the American population. If the Somali presence in America is one slice of the latest iteration, the potential for a decent, let alone notable success—in both material and mental terms—depends on how, individually and collectively, they assess the complexities of the new environment and, subsequently, snatch any legitimate turns of chance. To state this point is not to under estimate how difficult circumstances have been, are, or could be. The life histories of others who came before Somalis, including some of European ancestry (e.g., the Irish and southerners from around the Mediterranean),testify to the cruel treatment that might await and the bogushindrances that one must struggle against during the transition.
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand

5. Educating Immigrant Youth in the United States: An Exploration of the Somali Case

Author:
Lidwien Kapteijns and Abukar Arman
Publication Date:
07-2004
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
Becoming “a diasporic people, blasted from one history into another,” is a great tragedy. However, in the heart of the storm, new opportunities and new dangers are born. The Somalis today constitute a complex transnational set of communities fanning out from Somalia and spanning the globe from Australia to Western Europe and North America. The Somali diaspora consists of individuals (and groups) who arrived and were received in a wide range of host societies at different times and in different ways, bringing with them the social, cultural, and political divisions of back home. All this has been exacerbated by the divisive legacy of the civil war (1978–present). Even after resettlement Somalis do not sit still. Instead, they are characterized by continuous movement within the diaspora. The complex set of communities resulting from these histories is also unique, as they shared life—however imperfectly and at times unequally—in Somalia.
Political Geography:
Australia, North America, Somalia, and Western Europe