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52262. Foreword
- Author:
- Ahmed I. Samatar and Lidwien Kapteijns
- Publication Date:
- 07-2004
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies
- Institution:
- Macalester College
- Abstract:
- This issue of Bildhaan is dedicated to some of the commissioned proceedingsof an international conference, “Somalis in America: TheChallenges of Adaptation,” which was held at Macalester College, July15–17, 2004.
- Political Geography:
- America and Somalia
52263. 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
52264. 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
52265. Local Lives, Transnational Ties, and the Meaning of Citizenship: Somali Histories and Herstories from Small Town America
- Author:
- Helga Leitner
- Publication Date:
- 07-2004
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies
- Institution:
- Macalester College
- Abstract:
- United States immigration policy is based on the assumption that every legal immigrant to this country is on the road to becoming a U.S. citizen. In order to become a citizen, immigrants are explicitly or tacitly expected to assimilate into the U.S. sociocultural and economic system, to shed their attachment and allegiance to their home country, and to devote their loyalty to just one country, the United States. The first line of the citizenship oath makes this clear: “I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign…state…of…which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen.” Viewing loyalty in such zero-sum terms has blinded American policymakers to migrants' transnational practices, ties, and multiple allegiances.
- Political Geography:
- United States and America
52266. Somali Mental Health
- Author:
- David McGraw Schuchman and Colleen McDonald
- Publication Date:
- 07-2004
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies
- Institution:
- Macalester College
- Abstract:
- Over the past seven years, there has been a vast influx of Somali refugees and immigrants making their new home in Minnesota, with the overwhelming majority residing in the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. While official estimates indicate that less than 20,000 Somalis are in Minnesota, it is well accepted that there are actually 50,000–75,000. It is difficult to pinpoint the exact number due to limitations in census data collection and the continual growth resulting from such factors as secondary migration. Since Minnesota has welcomed African immigrants, family members who live in other states within the U.S. and Canada continue to join many newly arrived families. The prospect of Somali immigrants and refugees returning to their homelands is unlikely. Continuing war, civil strife, and economic crises make the outlook for return bleak. Therefore, it is important that Minnesota continue to embrace and welcome Somalis into the community and assist in their acculturation process.
- Political Geography:
- Africa, United States, and Canada
52267. Experiences of Somali Entrepreneurs in the Twin Cities
- Author:
- Hussein M Samatar
- Publication Date:
- 07-2004
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies
- Institution:
- Macalester College
- Abstract:
- There is a universal belief among Somali entrepreneurs in the Twin Cities that they can become rich very quickly; therefore, they need to hurry up and start their business so they can get to the Promised Land and strike a fortune in the process. This sometimes leads to jumping into business without thinking it through. There is no question that Somali entrepreneurs are ambitious and hardworking people. Some of them work more than sixteen hours a day in a full-time job and at the same time run their own business. What they have accomplished in less than ten years is quite remarkable. Somali entrepreneurs and other new immigrants, such as Latinos and Asians, are overwhelmingly responsible for revitalizing old and neglected commercial corridors in south Minneapolis, such as Nicollet Avenue and Lake Street, and University Avenue in Saint Paul.
- Political Geography:
- Asia and Somalia
52268. Transactions with Homeland: Remittance
- Author:
- Saad A. Shire
- Publication Date:
- 07-2004
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies
- Institution:
- Macalester College
- Abstract:
- According to the English dictionary, “to remit” means to send money. But nowadays the term remittance seems to have assumed a more specific significance. It is very much used to mean money sent back to the home country by migrants. Since the Somali community is part of a wider international migrant community, I would like to start my presentation with some myths and facts about migrants in general in order to put into perspective the Somali case, the subject of this conference.
- Political Geography:
- Somalia
52269. Poem: Qoriga u garwaaxshey asagoon sagalkii galin
- Author:
- Amina Said Ali
- Publication Date:
- 07-2004
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies
- Institution:
- Macalester College
- Abstract:
- No abstract is available.
52270. Appendix
- Publication Date:
- 07-2004
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies
- Institution:
- Macalester College
- Abstract:
- Among the enormous costs of the civil strife and the demise of Somali national institutions is the exodus of hundreds of thousands of people who have sought refuge in almost every continent. A large portion of those in flight have found succor in North America, particularly the United States, with the state of Minnesota as an epicenter. As was the case with others who fled their native lands, the degree of success of all arrivals to settle in the new environment depends on two interconnected processes: the construction of adaptive individual/ collective identities fit for the new time, and the willingness of the receiving communities to embrace cultural diversity, within a national framework, in the perennial remaking of America.
- Political Geography:
- America, North America, and Somalia