The History of Social Movements in Somalia through the Eyes of Our Elders within a Diasporic Context

This work brings an anticolonial Indigenous reading to the history of social movements in Somalia to highlight the different moments in which Somali peoples have mobilized around key issues to seek social-political transformation. The liberation movements inspired generations of Somalis by bringing to the forefront key Indigenous ideals that constitute what it means to be Somali during the fight for independence and mobilize the masses against colonial rule. They also ignited the social consciousness of the peoples and captured their imagination, enabling generations of Somalis to lay claim to their humanity. The idea of looking at such a history is to create spaces to re-think some of the values within the contemporary moment. Sixteen Somali Elders were interviewed to draw on their experiential lived cultural capital and to engage them in processes of knowledge production as they narrated histories of the past and articulated their visions for the future. The objective of this study is to address the following questions: 1) What can we learn from the history of social movements in Somalia, both at home and in the Diaspora?; 2) How do Elders conceptualize the history of social movements in Somalia in and through Somali dhaqan (ancestral way of life) worldviews?; 3) What does the articulation of Somali history from an African trajectory offer in terms of our anticolonial struggle?; and 4) What are the implications of broaching these stories in Diaspora communities? The Elders' narratives signified the centrality of Somali dhaqan philosophies as a cultural system for Somali peoples in making sense of the current political moment. This work is devoted to explaining the ways in which Somali dhaqan could be operationalized as a cultural index to make sense of our past and present while keeping a gaze on the future.Ph.D