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Inter-Generational Resilience and Construction of Diasporic Identities Among Somali Refugees

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Inter-Generational Resilience and Construction of Diasporic Identities Among Somali Refugees The University of San Francisco USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center Master's Theses Theses, Dissertations, Capstones and Projects Spring 5-21-2021 Memory and Identity: Inter-Generational Resilience and Construction of Diasporic Identities Among Somali Refugees Hamida Dahir Sheikh Ahmed [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.usfca.edu/thes Part of the African Languages and Societies Commons, Creative Writing Commons, Human Rights Law Commons, International Humanitarian Law Commons, and the Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Ahmed, Hamida Dahir Sheikh, "Memory and Identity: Inter-Generational Resilience and Construction of Diasporic Identities Among Somali Refugees" (2021). Master's Theses. 1365. https://repository.usfca.edu/thes/1365 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, Capstones and Projects at USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Memory and Identity: Inter-Generational Resilience and Construction of Diasporic Identities Among Somali Refugees In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master in Migration Studies By Hamida Dahir Sheikh Ahmed, May 14, 2021 University of San Francisco Under the guidance and approval of the committee, and approval by all the members, this thesis project has been accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree. Approved: May 14, 2021 __________________________________ __________________________ Advisor May 18, 2021 ___________________________________ __________________________ Academic Director ___________________________________ __________________________ Dean of Arts and Sciences Date Migration Studies Department Hamida Dahir, 2021 Abstract The violence and displacement many refugees face often create a lifelong trauma that manifests in many ways within themselves, their families, and communities. The Somali refugee community in the United States is no different. Since their resettlement in America started in the 1990s following the civil war, the community has struggled with different manifestations of that trauma; substance abuse and gang violence among the youth, prominence of depression and suicide rates, rise of domestic violence, as well as other direct and indirect results associated with mental health. This is the reality of many refugee and immigrant communities, coming directly from the lack of mental health services within resettlement projects. Therefore, what I seek to highlight in my research is the need for mental health services to refugees after resettlement as well as better integration models. Furthermore, through an analysis of art, poetry, and storytelling, I show how despite the community’s struggles, they remain resilient and hopeful. This creates a different point of interaction with refugees in general; communities who are vulnerable to toxic hypervisibility but retain their agency throughout. In essence, my research is advocating for the provision of culturally-sensitive mental health services to refugees (both the Somali community as well as other immigrant and refugee communities), understanding the reconstruction of the Somali identity in the diaspora and how continued production of Somali indigenous knowledge is being used to combat historical and cultural trauma as well as building resilience across generations of Somali refugees. This research seeks to add to that pool of knowledge and create a counternarrative to the stereotypical image of what Black, African and Muslim refugees are like. 2 Migration Studies Department Hamida Dahir, 2021 3 Migration Studies Department Hamida Dahir, 2021 Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................1 Introduction ........................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Roadmap .........................................................................................................................9 Positionality ..................................................................................................................11 Section 1: Theoretical Framework ...................................................................................13 Research Framework ....................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Research Methods and Methodology .........................................................................14 Section 2: Literature Review - Trauma, Collective Memory and Diasporic Identity .....16 Displacement and Migration .......................................................................................16 Redefining Norms; Life After Resettlement ..............................................................17 Cultural Development in Post-resettlement ..............................................................19 Intergenerational Trauma and (Dis)connect .............................................................20 Critical Psychology; Transcultural Treatment and Social Therapy .......................21 Section 3: Recovery ...........................................................................................................25 Deconstruction of Communal Suffering ....................................................................25 Transnational Activism and Community Building ...................................................27 Creative Storytelling and Poetry ................................................................................29 4 Migration Studies Department Hamida Dahir, 2021 Poetry: Introducing the Somali Gabay ......................................................................30 Storytelling .................................................................................................................42 Social Therapy: Fadhi Ku Dirir, Religious Organizing, and Humor as Healing Mechanisms ...............................................................................................................46 Conclusion .........................................................................................................................54 References .........................................................................................................................55 5 Migration Studies Department Hamida Dahir, 2021 Acknowledgments: I cannot express enough gratitude to my parents, Fatuma Ikram Abubakar and Dahir Sheikh Ahmed, for their continued love, support, and immeasurable sacrifice throughout my academic journey. I offer my sincere love to the Dahir family and clan, who have pushed me to do better despite the challenges. I would also love to express my deep and sincere appreciation to my advisor, Dr. Jane Pak, for giving me invaluable guidance throughout this research. She has always created an engaging and reflective space that challenged and nurtured my scholarship. My completion of this thesis project could not have been accomplished without the support of my friends, classmates and program faculty, who have encouraged me consistently when the times got rough. Dedication: I long for you, as one / Whose dhow in summer winds Is blown adrift and lost / Longs for land, and finds — Again the compass tells / A grey and empty sea. Balwo, Somali oral song, translated by Margaret Laurence This thesis is for those who have left their homes in search of a better life, like my parents, and those whom the unfavorable winds of misfortune have left them running. Your resilience, struggle, and courage have guided me to do more, do better, for myself and those in community with me. 6 Migration Studies Department Hamida Dahir, 2021 Memory and Identity: Mental Health Challenges and Creative Resilience Among Somali Refugees Somalis have been at the center of the discussion throughout the analysis of migration patterns from Africa into Europe and the Americas in the last three decades, using data from humanitarian organizations such as the United Nations Refugee Agency. Since the fall of the state in 1991, over 800,000 Somalis became refugees in neighboring countries and 2,000,000 became internally displaced people in the country (Hammond, 2014). With the protraction of the civil war in the country and further displacement from famine and droughts, Somali refugees accounted for the largest refugee crisis at the end of the 20th century, becoming the largest population in the biggest refugee camp in the world, Dadaab camp. This pattern of migration and displacement does not occur without regard to the psychological effects of war and violence on refugee identity both throughout migration and after resettlement. Though there is not one global consensus definition of the word trauma, the American Psychological Association defines it broadly as “events that pose a significant threat (physical, emotional, or psychological) to the safety of the victim or loved ones/friends and are overwhelming and shocking” (Krupnik, 2019). The scientific and clinical impact of trauma often causes post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), an acute psychological syndrome that is often characterized by victims’ inability to recover from the dangerous events they experienced. With the continuation of the civil war and an ever-
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