Somali Popular Culture and the Changing National Imaginary, 1960-2006

FAIN: FB-52985-07

Lidwien Elisabeth Kapteijns
Wellesley College (Wellesley, MA 02481-8203)

This history of Somali popular cultural production will analyze the changing Somali self-understandings, self-expressions, and cultural norms at three moments of history: the nationalist moment during which a national culture was actively fashioned (1960-1991); the sectarian moment of civil strife and clan violence (1991-present), and the moment of diasporic reconstruction, in which Islam and Islamism have gained prominence (1991-present). The source base for this research is extraordinarily rich and consists of the most prolific genres of popular cultural production: Somali popular songs, plays, poetry, novels, short stories, radio programs (especially the BBC Somali Service), sitcoms, and submissions to the flourishing Somali websites.