The African Diaspora in the United States and Canada at the Dawn of the 21st Century

Chapter 16: Somalis in Maine

C Ch ha ap pt te er r 1 16 6 Somalis in Maine FENDA A. AKIWUMI AND LAWRENCE E. ESTAVILLE INTRODUCTION AND PURPOSE Somalis are a part of the recent African Diaspora to North America. Studying the migration of Somalis from the dry, tropical “Horn of Africa” to moist, cold Maine is an exceptional opportunity to elucidate an array of fundamental cultural geography concepts as they apply to significant contemporary events. The purpose of this chapter is to examine the cultural geography of Somali migration from Somalia to cities and towns in the United States and, then, secondary migrations, to the small Maine community of Lewiston. This chapter is based on both quantitative and qualitative data, and includes interviews of key informants, and fieldwork to observe first hand changes in the cultural landscape. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SOMALI POPULATION Jutting out as the “Horn of Africa” to form a long eastern coast on the Indian Ocean and shorter coastline to the north on the Gulf of Aden, drought-prone Somalia borders Ethiopia (including its eastern Ogaden region) in the west, Djibouti on the northeast, and Kenya to the south (Figure 16.1). The U.S. Department of State (2007) estimated that almost all (99.9 percent) of the 8.5 million people in Somalia were Sunni Muslims in 2006. The main languages are Af Maay and Af Maxad. A complex system of major clans and sub-clans with subtle cultural and language differences permeates society. Major clans are the Hawiya (approximately 25 percent of the population), Darood (22 percent), Issaq (17 percent) and Rahanwein (17 percent), Dir (7 percent), and Digil (3 percent). The remainder of the population belongs to various minority ethnic groups. Such economic caste groups as the Yibir (hunters), Midgaan (leatherworkers), and Tumal/Tomal (blacksmiths) make the cultural mix even more complex (Cassanelli 1995; United Nations Development Program 2007; Laitin and Samatar 1987; European Commission 2002; Institute of Cultural Partnerships 1997). The so-called “Somali Bantus” of the Lower Juba Valley in southern Somalia have been an historically marginalized minority that differs culturally from the majority of Somalis. The Bantus were originally from central Somalia and are descended from slaves taken from such present-day East African countries as Malawi, Tanzania , and Mozambique during the Indian Ocean slave trade in the 18th and 19th centuries. Unlike the predominantly nomadic Somali majority, the Somali Bantus are largely sedentary subsistence farmers who settled and cultivated their crops in the Juba River Valley, a savannah rich in wildlife that receives the greatest amount of rainfall in the country. Strictly speaking, Bantu is a linguistic term, and those referred to as Bantu actually comprise various groups of people with languages rooted in Bantu and socio-cultural similarities. Ancestral Somali Bantu languages include Mushunguli and Zigua (Afolayan 2003; Besteman 1999, 2007a, b; Menkhaus 2003). 258 Fenda A. Akiwumi and Lawrence E. Estaville Figure 16.1. Somalia. In 1960, after decades of European colonial rule, Somalia became a sovereign state. In an attempt to create a Pan-Somalia that included the Ogaden Region of eastern Ethiopia, with its large numbers of Somalis, President Siad Barre invaded Ethopia to annex the disputed territory. The ensuing war with Ethiopia and its Soviet Union and Cuban allies in 1977–78 led to a disastrous outcome for Somalia. Not only was the Somali army badly defeated, but clan based civil war erupted throughout the country in 1980 that led to a military coup overthrowing President Barre in 1991. Violence and anarchy have been pervasive ever since (U.S. Department of State 2007). Decades of instability in Somalia displaced millions of people. The Ogaden War itself resulted in the forced resettlement of 1.5 million people into refugee camps throughout Somalia. As part of a 1980 agreement between Somalia and the United States, the U.S. acquired the Russian built naval base at Berbera and other facilities . In turn, the U.S. spent $132 million dollars in 1980–81 to help relieve the suffering of the 1.5 million internal Somali refugees (Gavshon 1981). Beginning in 1988, later waves of refugees moved into the Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps across the border in Kenya (U.S. Department of State 2003a, b). Some refugees emigrated to the United States. Somalis in Maine 259 MIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES Somali refugees to the U.S. are from various clans, many of whom suffered persecution in clan warfare and...