The Ohio State University K–12 Teacher Somali Workshop Project Leslie C. Moore and Laura Joseph I. Introduction In July 2009, the Ohio State University held its first weeklong inten- sive teacher workshop on Somali history, language, and culture. The workshop was the heart of a larger project to create resources for edu- cators who work with Somali children, youth, and families. Over the course of a year the authors developed the workshop in collaboration with sponsoring agencies;1 Somali Studies scholars; local school dis- trict teachers and administrators; and local Somali artists, educators, students, and community organizers. The workshop was designed to provide an overview of Somali history, language, and culture while focusing on topics that were identified by stakeholders and by the authors as particularly relevant to educational practice. In this article, the organizers of the OSU K–12 Teachers Somali Workshop Project trace its developmental trajectory, describing the development, delivery, and digital documentation and dissemination of the workshop. While our efforts to take a collaborative, community- based approach yielded a rich workshop with significant investment by many stakeholders, problems arose about issues of representation in terms of content, presenters, participants, and venue. We conclude with a discussion of plans for the future, including improvements in workshop design and delivery, expansion of the website, and the integration of digital resources and face-to-face workshops. The goal in writing this article is three-fold: (1) to initiate discussion of how teacher workshops and related outreach efforts unfold in the context 135 Bildhaan Vol. 11 of the Somali diaspora, (2) to let the Somali Studies community know about the resources we have created and continue to develop, and (3) to invite involvement in our on-going activities. II. Context of the Project A. Somali Immigration to Columbus, Ohio The Somali migration to Columbus, Ohio, since the early 1990s has had a major impact on this Midwestern city. Despite its reputation as a homogeneous “Cow-town,” Columbus has in fact become home to successive waves of immigrants throughout its history. In the 19th century there were influxes of European immigrants from such coun- tries as Germany and Italy, and in-migrations of former slaves from the southern United States.2 During the last quarter of the 20th cen- tury communities of immigrants from Latin America, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, and the former Soviet Union became estab- lished and grew rapidly.3 In that same period, many East Africans (pri- marily Ethiopians and Eritreans) resettled in Columbus with official refugee status. In the early 1990s in the aftermath of civil war, Somalis began their exodus to countries of first asylum, such as Kenya. Those who sought and were accepted as political refugees for resettlement in the United States initially settled in other areas, but many Somalis soon began secondary migration to Columbus in search of better housing, jobs, and living conditions.4 What began as a trickle of individuals has grown into a sizable Somali community in Franklin County, but its size is unknown and a matter of debate. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, there were fewer than 10,000 Somalis at the turn of the millennium, while a 2008 book by Roble and Rutledge estimated that 45,000 resided in Central Ohio.5 Columbus had received humanitarian immigrants before but never in such large numbers, and service providers have struggled to meet the needs of Somali newcomers. As in other North American cities and towns, Somalis in Columbus have faced many challenges, some common across immigrant groups, others specific to this population. Somalis have been confronted with racism and Islamophobia at the same time they are learning to speak a new language and function in a new social system, while, in many cases, also dealing with the trauma of war and displacement.6 Suspicions and negative stereotypes of Somalis in the diaspora have been reinforced by events such as piracy in the Indian Ocean, allegations of affiliations with Al-Qaeda, 136 Leslie C. Moore and Laura Joseph and ongoing warfare and displacement in Somalia. Rapid growth of the Somali community and various socio-political factors that make Somalis stand out more than other newcomers have made outreach to public schools increasingly important over the past decade. Since the early 1990s, there has been a constant demand in Colum- bus for training about Somali history and culture for public school teachers and administrators, as well as for social service and other care providers. Insights and direct assistance from Somali bilingual aides, interpreters, and social service workers help non-Somalis navi- gate cross-linguistic and cross-cultural encounters. However, the con- tinued need for formal training for non-Somalis is widely recognized, and many have been offered in a range of professional settings. Somali community organizations have led and/or provided trainers for staff training for the police, area hospitals and clinics, Franklin County Job and Family Services, Children’s Services, and the Alcohol, Drug and Mental Health Board. Limited time and other resources have often circumscribed the scope and breadth of these trainings. Sometimes the content delivered was concise and pragmatic but lacking in depth (e.g., do not shake hands with a Somali of the opposite sex), while other times the content was culturally rich but not clearly connected to the trainees’ professional needs. In 2004, the Center for African Studies at the Ohio State University sponsored a one-day K–12 teacher workshop. Led by a number of nationally renowned scholars and practitioners, the event was an effort to provide more comprehensive and academic training for educators who work with Somali children and families. Frequent requests for the (poor quality) video recording of this event inspired us to create an expanded workshop and a high-quality and accessible record of it for future audiences. Consequently, the OSU K–12 Teacher Somali Work- shop Project was born. B. Outreach at the Ohio State University As a land grant university, the Ohio State University (OSU) has always had an outreach and engagement mission, and in recent years the university has sought to increase the extent and profile of such efforts. The College of Education and Human Ecology (EHE) has a long and productive tradition in this area, and its programs are managed by the College’s Office of Outreach and Engagement. A large part of this work consists of providing courses for local school districts on a contractual 137 Bildhaan Vol. 11 basis. The teachers who take these courses earn academic credit to sat- isfy state requirements for continuing professional development. Our workshop was offered as such a course. With its focus on immigrants and refugees in Columbus, our workshop aligned with the College’s commitment to taking a leadership role in the improvement of urban education. When we proposed the workshop to EHE’s Office of Out- reach and Engagement, the response was highly enthusiastic. Many other units on campus offer workshops for K–12 teachers, and some workshops bear academic credit. The Center for African Studies (CAS) is particularly active in this domain and has organized several workshops in which African Studies scholars present on their area of expertise. Whereas EHE courses are expected by participants and the contracting school district to provide information and training that is directly related to teachers’ practices, workshops offered by other units seem to have more leeway on how “practical” they have to be. Work- shops organized by EHE differ in another respect from those offered by other units: EHE courses are typically quite interactive, including structured inquiry and extensive small group work, while non-EHE courses tend to follow a more lecturer-centered format. Co-sponsored by EHE and CAS, our workshop emphasized histori- cal, linguistic and cultural content knowledge rather than pedagogical content knowledge. Consequently, it was less practical or interactive than is typical for an EHE workshop. Moreover, because our proj- ect goals included digital documentation and dissemination of the workshop, we privileged the thorough and orderly presentation of information over the active participation of the teacher-students. Our participants were very tolerant of this, perhaps because we explained our project goals and their implications for that workshop format or because co-sponsorship by CAS shifted participants’ expectations. C. Funding the Project Our first task was to find funding for the workshop project. OSU would pay for Moore’s and Joseph’s time and expertise. However, we needed money to pay for presenters’ honoraria and the digital video record- ing and post-production work to create a project website and a DVD archive of the workshop. We turned first to the Ohio Humanities Council (OHC), applying for a Major Grant for K–12 Education. The OHC’s mandate is to encour- age “all Ohioans to explore the human story, to use history, literature, 138 Leslie C. Moore and Laura Joseph philosophy and the other humanities as the means to arrive at new insights.”7 The OHC proved to be highly supportive because they saw Somalis in Ohio as an integral part of the state’s cultural heritage. The OHC’s involvement gave added importance to the documentation and dissemination aspects of the project. Meetings and exchanges with other OHC grantees helped us situate Somali history, language, and culture within the larger Ohio experience. The project was also funded by the U.S. Department of Education through an undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Lan- guage (UISFL) grant to OSU’s Center for African Studies. Area Studies outreach to K–12 and other communities has long been a priority for the U.S. Department of Education Title VI programs, and funds were allocated to the workshop project as part of the grant’s outreach to the K–12 community.