Note on Anonymity of Research Subjects in this Dissertation In order to protect the privacy of the Somali women and men who contributed to my research, I have changed the names of all but one of the people I interviewed (the exception gave me his permission to use his full and real name and the events I discuss concerning him are a matter of public record). All of the names that I use in the dissertation are common Somali names, but they are aliases. During my field work I utilized a verbal assent process rather than a written consent form. I was better able to protect my subjects’ identities through using this process, and the form I used to attain verbal consent is located in Appendix B. The letter I used to recruit subjects is found in Appendix A, and the questionnaire I utilized during my interviews can be found in Appendix C. CULTURAL DIVIDES, CULTURAL TRANSITIONS: THE ROLE OF GENDERED AND RACIALIZED NARRATIVES OF ALIENATION IN THE LIVES OF SOMALI MUSLIM REFUGEES IN COLUMBUS, OHIO DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Richelle D. Schrock, M.A. The Ohio State University 2008 Dissertation Committee: Professor Amy Shuman, Advisor Approved by Professor Cathy Rakowski Professor Judy Wu ____________________________ Advisor Graduate Program in Women’s Studies Copyright by Richelle D. Schrock 2008 ABSTRACT Since the mid-1990s, Somali refugees have been resettling in Columbus, Ohio, which is a large city in the Midwest of the United States. In 1990, there were less than 100 Somalis living in the Columbus metropolitan area, while the current estimate is that between 40,000 and 60,000 Somali refugees are Columbus residents. This population continues to grow and constitutes the second largest community of Somali refugees in the United States. The Somali community in Columbus is almost entirely Muslim, and this creates particular challenges in the post 9/11 era and within the specific context of Columbus, which has never before seen a high influx of African refugees or Muslims into the community. Situating my fieldwork with this Somali community within existing debates in feminist theory concerning multiculturalism and women’s rights, I examine the representations and narratives that Somali Muslim women and men identify as dominant in the Western media and in Columbus, Ohio concerning their community. In addition, I explore Columbus Somalis’ discursive and material practices of resistance to these narratives. I employ feminist ethnography to gather and analyze what I have identified as narratives of alienation that predominate in both discursive constructions of Somalis as well as interactions between Somalis and non-Somalis in the Columbus community. ii These narratives of alienation are gendered and racialized, relying on Orientalist images of Islam to construct discursive divisions within the Columbus community that have material repercussions for Somali women and men. Somali men and women are differently framed by narratives of alienation and have differing reactions and resistance strategies as a result. For Somali women, beginning to wear the hijab is an important practice of resistance to narratives that construct them as inherently subjugated. Somali men’s resistance strategies differ because they position themselves as agents in pursuit of the American Dream in order to contest narratives of alienation. In calling attention to these narratives and resistance strategies, I lay the groundwork in this dissertation to explore in my future work how feminist directives can be employed productively in improving women’s lives in minority cultures without reinforcing larger narratives of alienation between hegemonic America and newly arrived immigrant groups. iii Dedicated to Rhoda and Ida I hope you would have liked it. And to Damion iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost I want to thank the Somali women and men who helped me with this project. Your openness, honesty and hospitality will always be with me. I hope I have done justice to what you shared with me. This dissertation would not be possible without the many women who have mentored and helped me grow throughout my graduate career. Amy Shuman is a constant source of inspiration for me and I owe her a debt of gratitude for the years of mentoring she has given me. Thank you, Amy, for always encouraging me to do my best and for believing in me. I would like to thank Judy Wu for being a role model, a friend, and for hiring me to work with Asian American Studies and Ethnic Studies. The year I spent working with you was one of the most intellectually exciting and rewarding of my graduate career. Cathy Rakowski is one of the most caring and empathetic women I know, and the time she spends in student development is unparalleled. I want to thank her for her years of counsel, support and encouragement. Early in my graduate career I was encouraged to pursue my research by Mary Margaret Fonow and I will always be indebted to her for her time and positive encouragement. Ara Wilson is a powerful mentor who has shaped my thinking and intellectual trajectory in important ways I would like to thank Sally Kitch for her advice, v mentoring and her pioneering work in Women’s Studies. My work with her on the Afghan Women’s Leadership Project was important to me intellectually and personally. I also want to thank Cricket Keating for her enthusiastic support of my project and her infectious optimism, which was highly beneficial for my writing process. I would like to thank Mohamed for providing me with contacts and information for my research, and for the hours of conversation about the controversial issues highlighted in this dissertation. I would like to thank Angie Plummer and the staff of Community Refugee and Immigration Services for allowing me to work with you over the last seven years and for helping me during my research. Finally, I want to thank my mother and father for their support of my pursuit of a PhD in Women’s Studies, and my husband/partner, Damion, for his steadfast love and unremitting confidence in me. vi VITA June 12, 1979………………………………..Born Columbus, Ohio 1997-2001…………………………………...B.A. Interdisciplinary Studies, Minor in Women’s Studies, magna cum laude, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 2003………………………………………….M.A. Women’s Studies, The Ohio State University 2001-present…………………………………Graduate Teaching Assistant The Ohio State University FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Women’s Studies vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………..ii Dedication………………………………………………………………………………...iv Acknowledgments………………………………………………………………………..v Vita……………………………………………………………………………………...vii Chapters: Introduction……………………………………………………………………………..1 1. Defining Feminist Ethnography………………………………………………..12 2. The Limits of Available Narratives in the Works of Ayaan Hirsi Ali…………32 3. Between Orientalism and Feminism: Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women?......69 4. Gendered Narratives of Alienation: Somalis and Racialized Muslim Identity..116 5. Conclusion: Somalis in Columbus: A Discursive Economy Dominated by Narratives of Alienation……………………………………………………......158 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………167 Appendix A: Potential Participant Letter ……………………………………………...173 Appendix B: Verbal Consent Form ……………………………………………………175 Appendix C: Interview Questionnaire …………………………………………………178 viii INTRODUCTION Research Question Since the mid-1990s, Somali refugees have been resettling in Columbus, Ohio, a large city in the Midwest of the United States. In 1990, there were less than 100 Somalis living in the Columbus metropolitan area, while the current estimate is that between 40,000 and 60,000 Somali refugees are Columbus residents1. This population continues to grow and constitutes the second largest community of Somali refugees in the United States2. The Somali community in Columbus is entirely Muslim, and this creates particular challenges in the post 9/11 era and within the specific context of Columbus, which has never seen a high influx of refugees or Muslims into the community. In the years following 9/11 ubiquitous media images of women in burquas reinforced Western tropes of Muslim women as silenced and victimized. These images and other experiences of being treated as victims led a group of women from the Somali Women’s Studies Association to give a talk in the Spring of 2002 at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. Each woman on the panel expressed clear frustration with 1 In December 2007, the leading newspaper in the Columbus area, The Columbus Dispatch claimed that the Somali population is “conservatively estimated at 45,000” and continues to grow (Ferenchik 1A). 2 The largest community of Somalis in the US is in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 1 representations of Muslim women as subordinated and victimized, and each repeated the phrase “we are not victims” during the course of the hour. This event piqued my interest in how refugee Somali women perceive, respond to and contest representations of Muslim women in Western culture. This dissertation project began as an examination of the representations and narratives Somali women identify as dominant in the Western media and in Columbus concerning their community and as an exploration of their discursive and material practices of resistance to these narratives. While these questions remain the primary focus of my work, through the course of my fieldwork, I encountered gendered representations that specifically and differentially affect Somali men, which expanded the scope of my project. As a result of my research, I have identified what I call narratives of alienation. These narratives of alienation dominate in both discursive constructions of Somalis in the Western media and in interactions between Somalis and non-Somalis in the Columbus community. These narratives of alienation are gendered, racialized and rely on Orientalist images of Islam to construct discursive divisions within the Columbus community that have material repercussions for Somali women and men. Research Design The United States is currently experiencing the third largest wave of immigration in its history.