By WardheerNews
The Hashtag #CadaanStudies has created a flurry of criticism, intrigue, chasm and everything in between, since its debut last week. It came about when a young Somali Harvard Ph.D. history Student, Safia Aidid, created awareness about a new journal called Somaliland Journal of African Studies. The dilemma faced by the young future historian was that the journal had no Somali contributors, editors, or advisors. Her concerns emerged from the fact that a Journal of its kind with a lofty name had no Somalis in any capacity. Markus Hoehne, active members of the advisory board of the Somaliland Journal, joined the conversation when Safia Aidid created a thread on Facebook questioning the lack of Somalis in the field of Somali Studies. In her argument, there was a lack of Somali academicians and over all Somali voice in the field. And she argues White scholars from Western Universities dominate the field. “questions of power, authority and knowledge production about the Somali territories and how Somalis continue to be marginalized in academic and policy studies concerning them and the Horn of Africa more broadly [sic].”
Markus Hoehne got involved in the discussion and added his own thought into the mix. The Facebook response which blew the lid out of the conversation was when Dr. Hoehne insinuated that he hasn’t come across Somali scholars who could do the work and spin out legitimate, scholarly research publishable in a wide mainstream entity. This is what brought the #CadaanStudies to go viral, to use an Internet lingo. It overtook any conversation in the Somali arena last week and it is still on going. The debate continues and recommendations include having a roundtable on the said topic at a future date.
Therefore, WDN decided to dissect into the young Somalis who have originated the #CadaanStudies phenomenon. Cutting into the conversations, the #Hashtag and the Facebook thread and subsequent articles on the #CadaanStudies, we come away sensing something deeper about the group of young scholars, writers, community workers, filmmakers and regular Halimos and Farahs. First and foremost, they are part of a larger demographic referred to as The Millennial. In Somali corridors, they are referred to as the SAY WALAHI youngsters! This tittle outs their lack of fluency in the Somali language. Their baby boomer parents wouldn’t adorn themselves with the exalted descriptors that flower their professions and expertise. Follow one on Twitter and you will come away intimidated. They are not shy but are brash with titles that alert you to their field of study, dreams and aspirations. Their truth and daily reality coincides with Ferguson and Blacklivesmatter. They mostly reside in Western countries such as the US, UK, Canada, Scandinavia and beyond.
They are educated, well read, Internet savvy, and social media addicts and are influenced by pop culture, politics, defining events such as 9/11. They are children of Somali refugees and they grapple with dual identity confusion, stigma and racism in schools and daily living. They have lost friends to Al-Shabab and ISIS and have become a big part of post 9/11 Islamic awakening. They are by and large the most educated Somalis as a cluster that has come out of the Somali-speaking regions. Some are progressive, others conservative, and you will often find the die-hard feminist that make any Somali man young or old shiver with fear of losing their delicate females to the unapologetic hardcore feminism movement. Even when in apposing sides of an argument, they are convincing, passionate and unflinching.
Markus Hoehne may not have understood whom he was dealing with. Or, maybe those who have dominated the African Studies/Somali Studies arena have a rude awakening of dealing with this sophisticated, un-shy…no shrinking violets here, not intimidated Millennial generation who may call things as they see it. Their truth is part and parcel of their dual identity, being Somali refugee children, raised in the West with parents without much formal education. They have had exactly the same educational background as Dr. Hoehne if not the privileges that come with being a white, male in the field of Social Sciences. From their long ongoing analysis of Somali Studies, some condemn women and men of their parents’ generation (unlike them, the older generation are ready to engage and part with information, in this case, without involving their intellectual capacity and ideology, as to how the knowledge gained should be produced) that Marcus Hoehne and like-minded fellows are used to dealing with.
From their perspective, the said group has, for long, allowed the field of Somali Studies to be dominated by scholars from mostly white scholars from universities in the West. Whatever the true case of Somali Studies maybe, this group of young Somalis have started a conversation that need not stop in the gates of social media, but will hopefully create serious contenders who will research, write and create their own work. If this hot conversation is left to die in the dim pages of social media, then, the work that went into it will be seen as frivolous exercise of the reactionary kind.
The Say Walaahi millennial will question the credentials and interest of those who want to engage in Somali research. They will ask questions of what their intentions are. This is what was taught to them by the very system Dr. Hoehne hails from. There is nothing wrong that a learned person or scholar of any race who is expert of Somali or African studies to engage and involve in the affairs of Africa or Somalia in particular, but the issue is those with colonial mind, who think like Hoehne that there are no scholars from Africa or Somalia with equal status and qualifications. So for the Markus Hoehne of this world, there may be a new era and a new cadre of Somalis to deal with. This is the generation that will carry signs and organize protests and be part of something larger than their own community, something as widespread as Ferguson, Palestinian issues, Trayvon Martin and Balcklivesmatter. These Millennium generation is reclaiming what their parents have lost in the war. They own everything Somali and they will fight hard for its preservation. They seem to understand ownership of all things Somali. They have patriotic tendencies with non-tribal verve in a way that is not common with their parents.
WardheerNews
Editorial WardheerNews.com
WardheerNews Media Group
Email: admin@wardheernews.com
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Follow the conversation below
#CadaanStudies twitter hashtag
https://storify.com/safferz/cadaanstudies
Safia Abdi – Africaascountry.com
Marcus Hoehne Response – Sahan Journal.
A Collective Response to Dr. Markus Hoehne and the Somaliland Journal of African Studies
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