Literacy, Narrative and Identity for Somali Women
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Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University English Dissertations Department of English Spring 5-11-2015 THE RHETORIC OF REFUGEES: LITERACY, NARRATIVE AND IDENTITY FOR SOMALI WOMEN Mary Helen O'Connor Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_diss Recommended Citation O'Connor, Mary Helen, "THE RHETORIC OF REFUGEES: LITERACY, NARRATIVE AND IDENTITY FOR SOMALI WOMEN." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2015. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_diss/150 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of English at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in English Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE RHETORIC OF REFUGEES: LITERACY, NARRATIVE AND IDENTITY FOR SOMALI WOMEN by MARY HELEN O’CONNOR Under the Direction of Lyneé Lewis Gaillet, PhD And Michael Harker, PhD ABSTRACT This dissertation is a project in the recovery of the subjugated voices of Somali women who are living in the United States as a result of forced migration. Using a transactional, reflective, and activist methodology, I interviewed Somali women in an effort to recognize how multiples discourses of power impact assimilation and identity formation in their lives. I hope to influence how members of dominant cultures, particularly western cultures, research and write about refugees. This study considers the aspects of being Somali, a refugee, and a woman in the United States. As a contribution to academic discourse, I hope the way I approach and present my research will offer a new appreciation for refugees and their contributions to our communities. INDEX WORDS: Refugee, Somali, Somalia, Literacy, Narrative, Women, Identity, Refugee Women, Agency, Refugee Stories, Academic literacy, ESL, ELL, Assimilation, Identity THE RHETORIC OF REFUGEES: LITERACY, NARRATIVE AND IDENTITY FOR SOMALI WOMEN by MARY HELEN O’CONNOR A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University 2015 Copyright by Mary Helen O’Connor 2015 THE RHETORIC OF REFUGEES: LITERACY, NARRATIVE AND IDENTITY FOR SOMALI WOMEN by MARY HELEN O’CONNOR Committee Co-Chairs: Lyneé Lewis Gaillet Michael Harker Committee: Elizabeth Lopez Electronic Version Approved: Office of Graduate Studies College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University May 2015 iv DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my all of my refugee and immigrant students and friends. To Zeinab, Nuru, Halima, Mowal, Faduma, and Salam for their willingness to share their experiences with me. To Abdulahi, Zahra and their entire family for being my family by choice. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank each of my committee members for their unflagging support throughout my doctoral studies. This was during tremendous difficulties in my personal life, but their steadfast encouragement kept me focused on this work. Dr. Lyneé Lewis Gaillet has been a personal and professional mentor patiently guiding me through both divorce and IRB review. Dr. Michael Harker taught me what teaching literacy and composition is really all about. He coached me through the final stages of this project and is responsible for pushing me across the finish line. Dr. Elizabeth Lopez taught me ethics, reflection, and activism in my work. Dr. Toby Emert has been a steady supporter and friend for many years. He is responsible for introducing me to the work of Paolo Freire and Augusto Boal many years ago. As a result, my teaching philosophy as well as my personal ethics concerning my relationships with my refugee students was transformed. I was no longer concerned with telling their stories. I began to see myself as a cultural worker, in Freire’s words, standing in solidarity with my refugee friends. Many friends contributed financially to my dissertation studies including: Nancy Bankston, Dave and Mary Olson, Rex and Jan McPherson, Trey and Anna McPherson, Deanna Clark, Andy Kubis, Catherine and Andrew Kugajevsky, Jenni Junger, John Ruffier, Natalie Schulhofer, Cathy Paxton-Haines and Glenn Haines, Tracy Ediger, Kim Sisson, and Leah Halliday. In the same way that I have learned to stand in solidarity with my refugee friends, my friends stand in solidarity with me. Contributing to a cause or person is an act of faith. I will always be indebted to my family and friends for their faith in me. Lauri Goodling and Tracy Ediger have been one text, phone call, or email away for many years. They are my best editors, best critics, and best friends. vi My family has sustained me for the last six years. Thank you Martha Lynne O’Connor, Catherine Kugajevsky, my sons Connor and Parker, Cindy, Staten, Libby and Neil Bitting. Finally, thank you to the women who participated in my research study. They are the hope for peace in their native country. Their irrepressible strength and resilience has buoyed me through difficult times in my own life. It is my heartfelt hope they feel this work honors them. 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................. V 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 2 2 METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................. 28 3 PARTICIPANTS ..................................................................................................... 62 4 ASSIMILATION STORIES ................................................................................... 83 6 CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................................... 146 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 156 APPENDICES ............................................................................................................... 162 Appendix A ............................................................................................................. 162 Appendix B ............................................................................................................. 164 Appendix C: Interview transcript Faduma ......................................................... 165 Appendix D: Interview transcript Mowal ........................................................... 186 Appendix E: Interview transcript Halima ........................................................... 211 Appendix F: Interview transcript Salam ............................................................. 227 Appendix G: Interview transcript Zahra ............................................................ 252 Appendix H: Interview transcript Hoodu ........................................................... 266 Appendix I: Interview transcript Nura ................................................................ 281 2 1 INTRODUCTION This dissertation project will explore the intersections of narrative, literacy, and refugee identity. I hope to influence how members of dominant cultures, particularly western cultures, think about refugees and define refugee literacy. Using a blend of research methods derived from traditional ethnographic fieldwork, literacy studies, and discourse analysis, I hope to offer a new way to study those communities on the boundaries of dominant culture. I have specifically chosen Somali refugee women living in the United States for a variety of historic, cultural, and ethical reasons. Somalia has repeatedly been recognized by a number of organizations, including Human Rights Watch, and Save the Children, as one of the worst places on the face of the globe to be a woman (Abdi). By almost any measure, mother/infant mortality, access to education for girls, or incidence of rape, being female in Somalia ranks at the top of each. As a result of civil war and UN resettlement programs, large numbers of Somalis have immigrated to the United States bringing with them many of the traditions and cultural practices that have marginalized and silenced women in public discourse. For this and many other reasons explored later in my thesis, I want to consider the aspects of being Somali, a refugee, and a woman in the United States and the ways different kinds of literacy affect their ability to participate in public discourse. I hope that both the way I approach my research and the research findings will offer a new appreciation for refugees and their contributions to our communities. Since the enactment of more proactive international policies of the UN and the U.S. government toward resettlement for persecuted people beginning in 1990, the American public has come to know more about refugees. With the adoption of the The Refugee Act of 1980, the United States established a formal process, established a federal office, and provided federal financial assistance for the resettlement of refugees. The U.S. Department of State reports that 3 since 1975, they have actively resettled more than 3 million refugees in the United States. They live all around us. Refugees drive our taxis, make our food, attend our schools, yet in the minds of western governments and their citizens, refugees exist in a sort of liminal space. They are labeled “immigrant,” “illegal,” and “alien.” Refugees in the United States are contained in public housing,