Che -Guevara;929219 wrote: Dear Juxa, we welcome Safferz with open arms even though she already diss our beloved Beantown. I said Boston is fantastic! But just that Toronto is better I took my parents to Roxbury today, and we visited the mosque (first time I've heard the adhaan outside on the street in a Western country!) and had lunch at a nearby Somali restaurant called Ashur. The staff there recognized us instantly as ghareeb, and decided our meal was on the house

Red Sea Las Geel (neolithic cave paintings)

Some photos I took in Hargeisa and Berbera in May/June 2012 Hargeisa airport racks on racks ayeyo's house

Wonderful news!

Alpha Blondy;927613 wrote: i've all of a sudden become interested in Boston. thanks for starting the thread sufferz. based on the info provided it doesn't seem all that bad, inaar. its now 3rd on my list of potential US cities....i'd like to move to in 2014 summer. 1st is ATL and 2nd is Salt Lake City. AMERICA, inaar.......i'm COMING. i hope y'all are ready for Al. Boston is fantastic, but it doesn't come close to Toronto Why would you want to live in Salt Lake City? Do they even have black people there?

I think Somalicentric knows the city better than I do

Somalicentric;927548 wrote: Safferz--- Felt the same way every time i visit that place... went to the "Somali Mall" a few times to purchase something for my mother. That's about the closest i have ever gotten to them lol Good luck, I'll be contacting you when i start grad school there lol For sure I think the occasional visit to the "Somali mall," mosque or even a hilib xalal shop for groceries would be nice, it can definitely feel isolating to be away from family and community. One of the reasons I decided to go to graduate school here was in part because I knew Boston had a Somali population, unlike the other schools/cities I was considering. Thanks again Che, I'll send you a PM now!

Thanks so much, Che! I'd love to hear more about the students/professionals group, so please do put me in touch. In the meantime I'll check out the Roxbury mosque, my parents are in town right now so I think it would be a great time to visit the area.

Alpha Blondy;927284 wrote: somalis are as rare as leprechauns missing in Irish fairytales to live in Boston. madex sare che is a special case altogether and you, my friend, are a CIA mole hoping to extract information on innocent Somalis, that'll lead to quick arrests. isku xishood malayacniyaho. p.s - che, inaar improve your privacy settings on facebook. iska jiir inaar wa khaatar eh. Very funny I'm no spy, I'm just a Somali girl from Toronto studying here (the only Somali at this particular school, it seems). I was under the impression that Boston has a significant Somali population, so I was hoping for more info on where I can find the community, since I rarely venture outside of my immediate area.

Transplanted here last year and on my own, so I'd like to find the community in my new-ish city. Neighbourhoods, restaurants, hilib xalal shops, community centres, etc... give me the rundown! Are there any Somali Students' Associations at Boston-area universities that are active? Thanks

Indeed

Somalia;925085 wrote: My mom survived the 1970 crash as a teenager... she jumped the length of the plane (it crashed nose down) with her baby nephew in her arms. I think they were the only children on the flight to survive.

Lived in the Netherlands and Canada, now living in the US. Visited Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti, UAE, France and the UK. Will be in Italy and Ghana in the next few months

Xaaji Xunjuf;907852 wrote: It also existed prior to colonialism Maakhir sultanate Maguartania sultanate A.Juraan Sultanate The House of Guled sultanate I didn't say clan (as a form of kinship and social organization) didn't exist prior to colonialism, of course it did. I said tribalism and politicized clan identity is a modern phenomenon.

QansaxMeygaag;907520 wrote: Your core identity is that which you can't change (Somali I'd say, try going to a river and washing it out...); you can change religion and with modern technology even sex. Identity is very complex and difficult to reduce it to an either/or argument... Don't be so sure about clan identity; it can be changed. There are many sub-clans who have moved from their ancestral lands and moved into other areas and adopted other clans as their new identity. in my own clan, there are some sections known to have undergone such a transformation (both in-migrants and out-migrants). They are accepted and no one holds that against them... Well said. It's also troubling to see the belief that clan (as it is understood today) has been a timeless feature of Somali society, when it's quite clear that historically we've seen a transformation from fluid kinship networks to politicized tribe/tribalism, beginning in the colonial era and crystallized under the post-independence governments. Tribalism is MODERN. To speak to the OP's point, I think one can argue that clan identity only became preeminent after the Civil War -- with the collapse of the dictatorship (one that actively exploited clan difference despite presenting itself as nationalist, I should add) and in turn the philosophical principle of citizen and nation, everyday Somalis sought refuge in the most basic political unit in Somali society, the clan.

Hi everyone, I'm working on a project and looking for traditional Somali poetry (of any genre - gabay, geeraar, jiifto, buraanbur, etc) that has been produced in the diaspora and remembers the homeland, perhaps a longing for going back, or memories of what Somalia used to be. Poems that talk about war and conflict are fine too, but the important thing is that the poems are composed by men or women who now live outside of Somalia. Please post if you know of any poems and can share the text (translation is fine as well), or know of any recordings or YouTube clips. Thank you! -Safferz

Great links, thank you!

I will have to check if there is any mention in the footnotes, but I would assume that 'previous citizenship' refers to the Somali Republic (probably why the page has a link to the Citizenship Law of 1960-1991). So the document is perfectly clear; you inherit Somaliland citizenship as you would inherit your clan (sorry hoyos!), and you can hold dual citizenship and hold allegiance to any other country (to exclude the Somaliland diaspora would be political/economic suicide) except Somalia.

^ The Citizenship Law posted earlier in the thread mentioned that citizens of Somaliland are allowed to hold dual citizenship. I suppose this means they can be citizens of everywhere but Somalia? Wa ajeeb.

What is their definition of "dhalatay"? From what I gather from the law Jacaylbaro posted, your male parent must have resided in the former British Somaliland to acquire citizenship by descent. You cannot inherit citizenship from your mother. It's a pretty clever way to encode tribe into Somaliland citizenship without actually saying outright, although there is this footnote: [19] All Somalilanders (and other Somalis) belong to identifiable clans which are based on male lineage. The clans which lived in the Somaliland Protectorate and, on independence on 26 June 1960, in the new “State of Somaliland” are all well known. The sub clans of each such clan have accredited chiefs (Akils) who know exactly the members of their sub clan. An Akil's declaration (to 'confirm' you belong to the community) is also part of the process of acquiring citizenship.

It's really not something to mock, African American vernacular English is a recognized dialect of the English language, with its own grammatical structure, vocabulary and pronounciation. I think it's quite fascinating (and brilliant) actually, that African slaves who spoke hundreds of different languages developed a creole language so they could understand each other on plantations in America, and although that language has evolved today, it still seems to function in the same way by keeping the powers that be out. Hence the need to translate.

Thank you I'm a long time reader of the forums, but a newbie when it comes to posts.

New page on Facebook: The Somali Writers’ Collective (SWC) is an online community for and of writers of Somali descent worldwide. We are novelists and storytellers, poets and lyricists, playwrights and screenwriters, essayists and journalists, bloggers and diarists. We write in the language of our homeland, and in the languages of our multinational diaspora. Whether you are a seasoned writer or an aspiring one, write as a hobby or prefer to read instead, the SWC is a space to share, create and support Somali literature in all its forms. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Somali-Writers-Collective/112800598773868?v=info&ref=mf