This book is about Somali mothers and daughters who came to Britain in the 1990s to escape civil war. Many had never left Somalia before, followed nomadic traditions, did not speak English, were bereaved and were suffering from PTSD. Their stories begin with war and genocide in the north, followed by harrowing journeys via refugee camps, then their arrival and survival in London. Joanna Lewis exposes how they rapidly recovered, mobilising their networks, social capital and professional skills. Crucial to the recovery of the now breakaway state of (former British) Somaliland, these women bore a huge burden, but inspired the next generation, with many today caught between London and a humanitarian impulse to return home. Lewis reveals three histories. Firstly, the women’s personal history, helping us to understand resilience as an individual, lived historical process that is both positive and negative, and both inter- and intra-generational. Secondly, a collective history of refugees as rebuilders, offering insight into the dynamism of the Somali diaspora. Finally, the forgotten history and hidden legacies of Britain’s colonial past, which have played a key role in shaping this dramatic, sometimes upsetting, but always inspiring story: the power of women to heal the scars of war.

The story of Somali immigrants in America. Since 2003, Abdi Roble - who came to the US from Somalia in 1989 - and Doug Rutledge have been documenting the lives of Somalis who have fled to camps in Kenya and to the US. This book follows the story of a family as they struggle to survive in Kenya and then in America.

Drawing on a wealth of ethnographic detail, Stephanie Bjork offers the first study on the messy role of clan or tribe in the Somali diaspora, and the only study on the subject to include women's perspectives. Somalis Abroad illuminates the ways clan is contested alongside ideas of autonomy and gender equality, challenged by affinities towards others with similar migration experiences, transformed because of geographical separation from family members, and leveraged by individuals for cultural capital. Challenging prevailing views in the field, Bjork argues that clan-informed practices influence everything from asylum decisions to managing money. The practices also become a pattern that structures important relationships via constant--and unwitting--effort.

The author, a Somali, recounts the stories of Somali refugees and others whose lives were uprooted or terribly transformed by the anarchy in Somalia during the early 1990s.

Return migration has received growing levels of attention in both academic and policy circles in recent years, as the African diaspora's role in contributing to the development of their country of origin has become apparent. However, little is known about the lived experiences of those who come back, and even less about the ways in which their return shapes socio-political dynamics on the ground. This book aims to unpack the complexities of migrant transnational experiences as situated in global political and economic processes. In particular, the book takes the case of the return of skilled and educated Somalis from Western Europe and North America, in an attempt to recast the idea of diaspora return and transnational ethnography in a more political light, and to show how these returnees are both subject to and generative of important political conditions that are transforming Somaliland society. Overall, the book captures the complexities of the migrant's position, showing that "return" is rarely permanent, and that success comes from perpetuating the transnational stance. This book will appeal to scholars of migration, diaspora, development and African studies, as well as to those interested in the Somali case specifically, the third biggest community of refugees in the world.

This book illustrates how diasporic media can re-create conflict by transporting conflict dynamics and manifesting them back in to diaspora communities. Media, Diaspora and Conflict demonstrates a previously overlooked complexity in diasporic media by using the Somali conflict as a case study to indicate how the media explores conflict in respective homelands, in addition to revealing its participatory role in transnationalising conflicts. By illustrating the familiar narratives associated with diasporic media and utilising a combination of Somali websites and television, focus groups with diaspora community members and interviews with journalists and producers, the potentials and restrictions of diasporic media and how it relates to homelands in conflict are explored.

"Autism has become an all-too-common diagnosis here in the United States. Typically diagnosed in early childhood, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is identified based on developmental delays in three areas: language, social skills, and particular behaviors. But what Americans know and think about autism is shaped by our social relationship to health, disease, and our country's medical system. The Western Disease explores the ways that Somali recent immigrants make sense of their children's diagnosis of autism. Having never heard of the disease before migrating to North America, they often determine that since autism doesn't exist in Somalia, it must be a Western disease. Many even believe it is Somalis' forced migration to North America that has rendered their children vulnerable to the development of autism. As Decoteau shows, autism--as a category, identity, and diagnosis--does not exist in Somalia because the infrastructure for its emergence is absent. When Somalis say that autism does not exist in Somalia, however, they mean that the disorder is Western in nature--that it is caused by environmental and health conditions unique to life in North America. Following Somali parents as they struggle to make sense of their children's illness and advocate for alternative care, Decoteau untangles the complicated ways immigration, race, and class affect the Somali relationship to the disease, and how this helps us understand our distinctly American approach to healthcare"--

Explores the balancing act of living as a Muslim in the west. It is a comparison of the Somali communities in London, England and Toronto, and is based on a series of in-depth interviews with over 80 Somali women, men and teenagers in those cities.

Critical Realism, Somalia and the Diaspora Community equips new researchers with a simplified knowledge of critical realism suitable to the degree of their comprehension. Moreover, it offers a step by step example of research using all levels of critical realism. This book resulted from the endeavour of a researcher, new to critical realism who, however, sought to apply all parts and phases of critical realism to his subject matter. The book is divided into three parts: Part 1 provides an outline of the three phases of critical realism: original/basic critical realism, dialectical critical realism and the philosophy of metaReality. Part 2 presents a case study that applied critical realism as a research-theory framework. The case study explores the formation of the Somali Community Organisations in the UK and develops a retroductive model that outlines their role in engaging the Somali Diaspora Community with the issue of sustainability. Part 3 presents reflections towards the geo-historical study of Somalia and explains the origins of the civil war and the dispersal that resulted in the formation of Somali Diaspora Communities in different parts of the world. This book will be of interest to Critical Realists, researchers on and in Africa, agencies interested in Somali affairs, researchers on diaspora and refugees, Somali Community Co-ordinators and local council authorities in the UK and Europe.

The story of Somalis in Minnesota begins with three words: sahan, war, and martisoor. Driven from their homeland by civil war and famine, one group of Somali sahan, pioneers, discovered well-paying jobs in the city of Marshall, Minnesota. Soon the war, news, traveled that not only was employment available but the people in this northern state, so different in climate from their African homeland, were generous in martisoor, hospitality, just like the Somali people themselves. The diaspora began in 1992, and today more than fifty thousand Somalis live in Minnesota, the most of any state. Many have made their lives in small towns and rural areas, and many more have settled in Minneapolis, earning this city the nickname "Little Somalia" or "Little Mogadishu." Amiable guide Ahmed Yusuf introduces readers to these varied communities, exploring economic and political life, religious and cultural practices, and successes in education and health care. he also tackles the controversial topics that command newspaper headlines: alleged links to terrorist organizations and the recruitment of young Somali men to fight in the civil war back home. This newest addition to the people of Minnesota series captures the story of the state's most recent immigrant group at a pivotal time in its history.