1. 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