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

21. Charter Schools: Choice of Somali-American Parents?

Author:
Farhan Hussein
Publication Date:
01-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
Most of the Somali community in the United Stated came here after civil war broke out in Somalia in 1991. During the war, hundreds of thousands of people fled to neighboring countries where many received resettlement aid from yet other countries, including the United States. The largest Somali community in the United States lives in Minnesota, mainly in the Minneapolis area.
Topic:
War
Political Geography:
United States, America, and Somalia

22. Somali Parent-Child Conflict in the Western World: Some Brief Reflections

Author:
Amin Mohamed and Ahmed Yusuf
Publication Date:
01-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
According to UNICEF, there are about 14.5 million refugees, of whom 41 percent are believed to be children under age 18. It is also estimated that 1.5 billion children (two-thirds of the world's child population) live in 42 countries that are affected by violent and high intensity conflict. Among these is Somalia, a country without a central government since 1991, and suffering a never-ending cycle of hostilities. As a result, Somali parents, along with their children, are scattered all over the world for safety reasons and for a better future for their children.
Topic:
Government
Political Geography:
Somalia

23. British and Somali Views of Muhammad Abdullah Hassan's 'Jihad,' 1899-1920

Author:
John P. Slight
Publication Date:
12-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
Since the start of Hassan's jihad against unbelievers and insufficiently pious Muslims in 1899, the “Cinderella of the Empire” had suffered terribly. Hassan's jihad caused “universal perdition,” with an estimated 200,000 deaths over twenty years in a territory of three million people. An estimated 30,000 alone died in three years as the result of internecine warfare after the British decided the cost of keeping the “Mad Mullah” in check was too burdensome and withdrew to the coast in 1909. The withdrawal led Hassan to resume raiding Somali tribes in the protectorate. This, coupled with the British policy of arming these tribes to fend for themselves, contributed to the death toll. Hassan was condemned by the British, but a few of the same observers also grudgingly admired his determination and sustained resistance to imperial power.
Political Geography:
United Kingdom and Somalia

24. Debating Somali Identity in a British Tribunal: The Case of the BBC Somali Service

Author:
Abdi Ismail Samatar
Publication Date:
12-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
The Somali Peace Conference sponsored by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), held in Kenya in 2003–05, was dominated by warlords and partisan mediators. It endorsed a political strategy whose objective has been to recreate Somalia as a clan-based federation. Advocates of this approach claim that such a dispensation will approximate the society's pre-colonial tradition and therefore has the best chance of restoring peace. An argument put forward in support of this agenda is that Somalia's former governments, particularly the military junta, misused public power by favoring and rewarding certain genealogical groups. Proponents contend that formally and openly using genealogical divisions as a basis for distributing public appointments and resources will prevent future clanist favoritism. This approach to political reconstruction mimics Ethiopia's seemingly novel political project, which divided the country into nine “ethnic provinces” in 1991. In the case of Ethiopia, the presumed rationale for this political strategy was to overcome past domination of the state by one ethnic group, rather than to revert to an old tradition. The imposition of Amharic culture and language on Oromos, Somalis, Afars, the people of the southern region, and other groups throughout the state—and the denial of their human rights—rationalized re-engineering the new order. The challenge for Ethiopia post-1991 has been how to undo past subjugation without reifying cultural differences politically. Dividing each country into administrative units based on ethnic belonging, the proponents argue, will promote democracy and produce a civic order in which no one ethnic group or clan dominates others.
Political Geography:
Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia

25. Experiences of Somali Entrepreneurs: New Evidence from the Twin Cities

Author:
Shannon Golden, Yasin Garad, and Elizabeth Heger Boyle
Publication Date:
12-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
In 2004, in the pages of this journal, Hussein Samatar put a human face on the difficulties that challenge Somali business owners in Minnesota. He also provided an overview of the impressive accomplishments of these industrious individuals. Here, we identify what has improved since 2004 and the challenges that remain. To do this, we use findings from a survey of 135 Twin City business owners (90 Somali owners and 45 non-Somali owners).
Political Geography:
Somalia and Minnesota

26. Haweenku Wa Garab (Women are a Force): Women and the Somali Nationalist Movement, 1943-1960

Author:
Safia Aidid
Publication Date:
12-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
In 1972, the Supreme Revolutionary Council of General Mohammed Siad Barre passed a resolution to erect several monuments in Mogadishu in honour of symbolic nationalist figures and events in Somali history. These monuments would come to include Sayyid Muhammad Abdullah Hassan, leader of a twenty-three year anti-colonial war (1898–1921) against the imposition of British rule; Daljirka Dahsoon (The Unknown Soldier), representing all Somali lives lost in battle; and Hawa Osman Taako, a woman killed at the time of a 1948 Somali Youth League organized demonstration that was violently disrupted by pro- Italian groups. At an intersection, home to the National Theatre and in the heart of the capital, Hawa Taako's concrete figure, sword and stone in hand, is permanently inscribed in the collective historical consciousness of Somalis.
Political Geography:
United Kingdom and Somalia

27. Obliged to Give: Remittances and the Maintenance of Transnational Networks Between Somalis at Home and Abroad

Author:
Laura Hammond
Publication Date:
12-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
One day, while drinking tea with Suad and her children in their small apartment in Lewiston, Maine, I asked her whether she felt pressure from her relatives in Somalia to send money. She chuckled sadly and said, “People say that there is a pill called ga'alqois, which means [literally] that which distances one from their relatives and close friends. Before you leave, you promise your friends and relatives that you will not take the pill and will not forget to send them money. Then when you arrive in the United States you see how hard life is here and you don't send any money. People say that you must have taken the ga'alqois pill.”
Political Geography:
United States and Somalia

28. A Slow Moving Night (Short Story)

Author:
Ahmed Ismail Yusuf
Publication Date:
12-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
On the high mountainous land of the Sanaag region in Somalia, jiilaal season showed neither compassion nor mercy on its inhabitants. The trees stood still, the boughs refused to sway, even slightly, and the reflection of the sun's rays shone on rocks with flat surfaces. A herd of sheep and goats moved about in a mad fury to seek sanctuary under the shade of a tree, which had shrunk within the past two hours or so, from a sizable length able to provide shelter to a negligible hue. Once they got under the tree and into the shade, the sheep huddled in concert. Some sat, some remained standing, and some hid their heads under the others, but the goats butted one another, competing for better positions. The day slowly progressed beyond the zenith, yet the heat persisted, driving the herd into a delirious lust for water.
Political Geography:
Somalia

29. Sheikh Ali Hussein

Author:
Joe Darwin Palmer
Publication Date:
12-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
East Africa: In 1966, the U.S. Agency for International Development built a residential school for the training of teachers in Somalia near the city of Afgoi on the Shabelle River, a dozen miles inland from the capital city, Mogadishu. The construction contract was given to a company in Nairobi, Kenya. There were no construction companies in Somalia or paved roads between Kenya and neighboring Somalia. Besides, anything of value would have already been stolen at gunpoint by bandits (shifta) so the necessary equipment—trucks, a bulldozer, a pavement roller, transmission wires, concrete poles, generators, stationary diesel engines, asphalt, toilets, plumbing, and so on—were sent by sea from Mombasa. There were no stores in Somalia: no grocery, no hardware, no McDonald's.
Political Geography:
Kenya, United States, Somalia, and East Africa

30. Editor's Note

Author:
Ahmed I. Samatar
Publication Date:
06-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
As Bildhaan ends its ninth year of existence, Somali society in the Horn of Africa enters yet another phase of its endless descent into violent contest over an already pestilent present. Nearly half of the Somali population in the country are now designated as malnourished and, thus, increasingly dependent upon international food assistance. This fact and others make Somalia the worst country in the whole world in terms of the Quality of Life Index.
Political Geography:
Africa and Somalia