Young Somali Women and Narrative Participatory Photography: Interrupting Fixed Identities through Dumarka Soomaaliyeed Voices Unveiled DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Ruth Marie Smith Graduate Program in Arts Administration, Education and Policy The Ohio State University 2014 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Karen Hutzel, Advisor Dr. Sydney Walker Dr. Leslie Moore Dr. Patty Bode Copyright by Ruth Marie Smith 2014 Abstract This dissertation examines the articulations and interruptions of Dumarka Soomaaliyeed Voices Unveiled (DSVU), a narrative participatory photography project that resulted in an exhibit of photographs and stories exploring what it is to be Muslim, Somali women in Columbus, Ohio. The primary source for the concepts of articulation and interruption is the community theory of Jean-Luc Nancy (1991, 1997, 2000). I employed participatory action research with fourteen young women to develop the narrative participatory photography method asserted in this study. In addition, a conceptual framework bringing together Nancy’s community theory, diasporic cultural identity, and political action as interruption emerged from the intersection of the fields of Somali Studies and Community Arts. In this research, I identify and analyze two articulations of Somali woman, which include: 1) stories about who they are told they are, how they identify themselves as a group of young women, and how they identify themselves as individuals; and 2) stories about not knowing what it means to be Somali. The stories of s interrupt: 1) stereotypes and assumptions held by others (both Somali and non-Somali) through creating points of empathy, presenting multiple viewpoints, experiencing affronting encounters, and giving attention to relationship; and 2) participants’ perceptions by offering a space to share stories and consciously choose what to follow and what to leave behind. This research offers a retheorization of relationship and political action in PAR and Community Arts, a new model of narrative participatory photography, and strategies for community arts educators engaged with immigrant and refugee communities. ii To the women who opened their lives and homes to me: Qorsho, Nasra, Hoda, Muna, S., Zam Zam, Asha, Bahja, Miriam, A., Kayla, Zahra, Ladan, and Raamla. To my family for all their support, especially my husband who always sees the good in the work I do. To God, who led me to this place and taught me what relationship means. iii Acknowledgments Research and writing is not an individual act and without the support of the following individuals and organizations, this dissertation would not have been possible: Dr. Karen Hutzel, my advisor who has faithfully mentored me these past four years and introduced me into the Somali community in the first place. My committee members – Dr. Sydney Walker, Dr. Leslie Moore, Dr. Patty Bode, and Dr. Candace Stout – whose advice, support, and feedback have proved invaluable. The classmates who stretched my thinking in so many ways, especially my writing partner, Verónica Betancourt. Staff members at the Columbus Metropolitan Library branches where the project was exhibited, whose enthusiasm for reaching new patrons and creative responses to community issues through literacy, the arts, and education made it a joy to collaborate with them. I am especially thankful for the Northern Lights staff, who by the end, felt like partners in this project. The Schweitzer Fellowship program, Puffin Foundation West, and the Ohio Art Education Association’s Franklin County Neighborhood Arts grant program, each who provided financial support for DSVU. The family members and friends, who helped hang photographs, attended exhibitions, bought countless cups of coffee, and provided childcare. iv Vita 2009................................................................B.A. Studio Arts, Anderson University 2012 ...............................................................M.A. Art Education, Specialization in Museum Education and Management, The Ohio State University 2010 to present ..............................................Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of Arts Administration, Education and Policy, The Ohio State University Fields of Study Major Field: Arts Administration, Education and Policy v Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. iv Vita ...................................................................................................................................... v Fields of Study .................................................................................................................... v Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... vi List of Tables ................................................................................................................... xiv List of Figures ................................................................................................................... xv CHAPTER 1: Introduction to Dumarka Soomaaliyeed Voices Unveiled ........................... 1 Introduction to Study .......................................................................................................... 1 Background ..................................................................................................................... 1 Somalis in Columbus, Ohio. ........................................................................................ 2 Conceptual framework. ............................................................................................... 4 Statement of the Problem ................................................................................................ 7 Research Questions ......................................................................................................... 9 Research Design ............................................................................................................ 10 Layered analysis. ....................................................................................................... 11 Defining Terms and Boundaries ................................................................................... 11 Other terms employed. .............................................................................................. 13 Limitations of the Study ................................................................................................ 13 Summary of Chapters ....................................................................................................... 18 CHAPTER 2: Literature Review Part I: Community Theory and Somali Studies ........... 20 Introduction to the Review of Literature .......................................................................... 20 Conceptual Framework ................................................................................................. 20 Being Singular Plural: Community, Politics, and Interruption ......................................... 22 Being Singular Plural .................................................................................................... 23 Inoperative Community................................................................................................. 24 Singularities in relationship: Being-with and being-in-common. ............................. 25 vi The singular community interrupted. ........................................................................ 26 Community Arts and the Political Imperative of Nancy’s Community Theory ........... 27 The Impossible Task of Interruption: Writing, Storytelling, and Artmaking ............... 29 Literary communism and the interruption of myth. .................................................. 29 Telling of and listening to stories: Writing as interruption. ...................................... 30 Writing and artmaking: in-common, between and intervention. ............................... 32 Somali Studies: Negotiating Identity in the Diaspora....................................................... 33 Identity and Diaspora Studies in Relationship to DSVU ............................................... 35 Diversity in the Diaspora............................................................................................... 36 Migration history: Order of arrival. ........................................................................... 37 Ethnicity: Clan or Somali? ........................................................................................ 43 Gender transformations, changing roles and family structure. .................................. 48 Religious practice and identification: Variation and interpretation. .......................... 52 Summary of diversity in the Somali diaspora. .......................................................... 55 Summary of Literature Review Part I ............................................................................... 56 CHAPTER 3: Literature Review Part II: Community Arts Education ............................. 57 Art Education and Social Justice ...................................................................................... 57 Defining Community Arts Education