Date of Award
5-2016
Degree Type
Research Paper
Degree Name
Master of Arts in International Development and Social Change (IDSC)
Department
International Development, Community and Environment
Chief Instructor
Anita Fabos
Second Reader
Marianne Sarkis
Keywords
Diaspora, Somaliland, Cultural Difference, Development
Abstract
As the Somalis territories are re-building there is heightened migration of people returning. They are heavily involved –formally or informally in development in the region. In the case of Somaliland, it is a semi-autonomous state championed by the diaspora. This assignment centers the experiences of young diaspora Somalis raised abroad in Somaliland. This demographic has grown up in the shadows of the civil war is the first generation to not grow up in the Somali territories. To capture their experiences, I carried out ethnographic fieldwork in Hargeisa, Somaliland over the summer of 2015. For this study I argue that young Somalis in the diaspora have fluid notions of identity and cannot acclimate to rigid notions that limit their agency in Hargeisa. I illustrate how culture is a tool constructed and re-negotiated to make claims to place.
Recommended Citation
Musa, Amina, "When reality crashes the Imagination: experiences of young Qurbojoog (foreign raised) Somalis in Somaliland" (2016). International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE). 28.
https://commons.clarku.edu/idce_masters_papers/28
Included in
Environmental Studies Commons, International and Area Studies Commons, Urban Studies and Planning Commons