Somali Studies
Encyclopedia
Somali Studies is the scholarly term for research concerning Somalis
Somali people
Somalis are an ethnic group located in the Horn of Africa, also known as the Somali Peninsula. The overwhelming majority of Somalis speak the Somali language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family...

 and Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...

. It consists of several disciplines such as anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...

, sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...

, linguistics
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....

, historiography
Historiography
Historiography refers either to the study of the history and methodology of history as a discipline, or to a body of historical work on a specialized topic...

 and archaeology
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...

. The field draws from old Somali chronicles
Somali literature
Somalian literature ranges from Islamic poetry and prose produced by the region's scholars and Sheikhs of centuries past to works of fiction from contemporary writers.-Islamic literature:...

 and oral literature
Oral literature
Oral literature corresponds in the sphere of the spoken word to literature as literature operates in the domain of the written word. It thus forms a generally more fundamental component of culture, but operates in many ways as one might expect literature to do...

, in addition to written accounts and traditions about Somalis and Somalia from European explorers and neighbouring regions in the Horn of Africa
Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa is a peninsula in East Africa that juts hundreds of kilometers into the Arabian Sea and lies along the southern side of the Gulf of Aden. It is the easternmost projection of the African continent...

 and the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

. Since 1980, prominent Somalist scholars from around the world have gathered annually, either in Somalia or a different country, to hold the International Congress of Somali Studies. The first such conference was held in Mogadishu
Mogadishu
Mogadishu , popularly known as Xamar, is the largest city in Somalia and the nation's capital. Located in the coastal Benadir region on the Indian Ocean, the city has served as an important port for centuries....

, Somalia on July 6–13, 1980, and the 10th Congress was held in Djibouti
Djibouti
Djibouti , officially the Republic of Djibouti , is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea in the north, Ethiopia in the west and south, and Somalia in the southeast. The remainder of the border is formed by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden at the east...

 in December 2007.

History

The academic platform that would become Somali Studies has its origin with research done by 18th and 19th century Somali scholars such as Uways al-Barawi
Uways al-Barawi
Sheikh Uways Al-Barawi was a Somali scholar credited with reviving Islam in 19th century East Africa.-Early life:Sheikh Uways was born in Barawe on the Benadir of Somalia coast, the son of a local religious teacher. He obtained a simple elementary education in basic theological sciences, and only...

 and Shaykh Aidarus concerning the Somali language
Somali language
The Somali language is a member of the East Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Its nearest relatives are Afar and Oromo. Somali is the best documented of the Cushitic languages, with academic studies beginning before 1900....

 and history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

. But since ancient times the Somalis had an scientific society, thanks to its healthy relations with Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...

, Arabia, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 and far as China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

. At the turn of the 20th century, other disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, and archaeology would eventually form part of Somali studies, which would now also include scholars of various origins.

Anthropology

Somali anthropology studies the way of life of the Somali people. Somalist anthropologists have in successive research papers and books taken traditional Somali social systems such as the ancient Xeer
Xeer
Xeer, pronounced , is the polycentric legal system of Somalia. Under this system, elders serve as judges and help mediate cases using precedents. It is a good example of how customary law works within a stateless society and is a fair approximation of what is thought of as natural law...

 law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...

 and the clan
Clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...

 system under the microscope and researched their role in Somali society
Society
A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...

. In the field of Somali Islamic studies
Islam in Somalia
Nearly all Somalis are Sunni Muslims. Practicing Islam reinforces distinctions that further set Somalis apart from their immediate African neighbors, many of whom are either Christians or adherents of indigenous faiths....

 scholars such as Said Sheikh Samatar and Abdi Kusow
Abdi Kusow
-Biography:Kusow studied at Michigan State University, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts in 1990. He later earned a Master of Urban Planning from the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning in 1992. He also holds a Ph. D...

 both have detailed in books such as Racial and Religious Contexts (2007) and Oral poetry and Somali nationalism: the case of Sayyid Mahammad 'Abdille Hasan (1982) the impact of Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

 on Somali self-consciousness and unity. Enrico Cerulli
Enrico Cerulli
Enrico Cerulli was an Italian scholar of Somali and Ethiopian studies, a governor and a diplomat.-Biography:...

 and Mohamed Diriye Abdullahi
Mohamed Diriye Abdullahi
Mohamed Diriye Abdullahi is a Somali-Canadian scholar, linguist, writer and translator.-Biography:Formerly a journalist in his native Somalia, Abdullahi emigrated to Canada, where he earned a Master's degree and a Ph.D. in linguistics from the Université de Montréal in Montreal...

 in their works entitled Somalia: scritti vari editi ed inediti (1957) and Culture and Customs of Somalia (2001) have presented theories on the origins and ethnogenesis
Ethnogenesis
Ethnogenesis is the process by which a group of human beings comes to be understood or to understand themselves as ethnically distinct from the wider social landscape from which their grouping emerges...

 of Somali people.

Linguistics

The Somali language
Somali language
The Somali language is a member of the East Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Its nearest relatives are Afar and Oromo. Somali is the best documented of the Cushitic languages, with academic studies beginning before 1900....

 is by far the best documented of the Cushitic languages
Cushitic languages
The Cushitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family spoken in the Horn of Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Sudan and Egypt. They are named after the Biblical character Cush, who was identified as an ancestor of the speakers of these specific languages as early as AD 947...

, with academic studies of it dating from before 1900. Linguists such as Bogumil Witalis Andrzejewski, Mohamed Diriye Abdullahi
Mohamed Diriye Abdullahi
Mohamed Diriye Abdullahi is a Somali-Canadian scholar, linguist, writer and translator.-Biography:Formerly a journalist in his native Somalia, Abdullahi emigrated to Canada, where he earned a Master's degree and a Ph.D. in linguistics from the Université de Montréal in Montreal...

 and Martin Orwin
Martin Orwin
Martin Orwin is a British linguist, scholar and writer, specializing in the languages and cultures of the Horn of Africa.-Biography:Orwin studied Arabic and Amharic and has a Ph.D. in the phonology of the Somali language...

 are considered among the foremost scholars on the study of the Somali language and the relation it has to the languages of neighbouring ethnic groups such as the Afar
Afar people
The Afar , also known as the Danakil, are an ethnic group in the Horn of Africa. They primarily live in the Afar Region of Ethiopia and in northern Djibouti, although some also inhabit the southern point of Eritrea.-Early history:...

s, Oromo
Oromo people
The Oromo are an ethnic group found in Ethiopia, northern Kenya, .and parts of Somalia. With 30 million members, they constitute the single largest ethnic group in Ethiopia and approximately 34.49% of the population according to the 2007 census...

s and Beja
Beja people
The Beja people are an ethnic group dwelling in parts of North Africa and the Horn of Africa.-Geography:The Beja are found mostly in Sudan, but also in parts of Eritrea, and Egypt...

s, in addition to Mustafa Abdulahi Feiruz on the relation between the Somali and Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

 languages.

Archaeology

One of the earliest examples of archaeology
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...

 in Somalia can be traced back to the 19th century when George Revoil a French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...

 explorer excavated several ancient sites in northern Somalia where he found large quantities of glass
Glass
Glass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...

 and pottery
Pottery
Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...

, including Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 pottery. After independence Somali government officials in collaboration with Soviet and British
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...

 archaeologists began excavating various parts of Somalia during the 1970s.

Prominent Somalist scholars

  • Muse Galaal Ali - history and linguistics
  • Lidwien Kapteijns – history
  • Abdisalam Issa-Salwe
    Abdisalam Issa-Salwe
    Dr. Abdisalam Mohamed Issa-Salwe is a Somali writer and scholar.-Career:Issa-Salwe is currently Asst. Professor in Information Systems in the Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering at Taibah University in Medina, Saudi Arabia...

     – information systems
  • Abdi Mohamed Kusow
    Abdi Kusow
    -Biography:Kusow studied at Michigan State University, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts in 1990. He later earned a Master of Urban Planning from the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning in 1992. He also holds a Ph. D...

     – sociology and anthropology
  • Ali A. Abdi
    Ali A. Abdi
    Ali A. Abdi is a Somali-Canadian sociologist and educationist. He is a professor of Education and International Development at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, where he serves as the Co-Director of the Centre for Global Citizenship Education and Research . He is also a past President...

     - anthropology and sociology
  • Said Sheikh Samatar – linguistics and sociology
  • Shire Jama Ahmed
    Shire Jama Ahmed
    Shire Jama Ahmed was a Somali linguist who is credited with having devised a unique Latin script for transcribing the Somali language. Shire Jama's winning Somali Orthoraphy was chosen from eighteen competing new orthographies in 1972 by the Language Committee and the ruling party...

     – linguistics and sociology
  • Mohamed Haji Mukhtar
    Mohamed Haji Mukhtar
    -Biography:Mukhtar was born in the town of Koorkoor in the Bakool region of southern Somalia. He is the son of Malak Mukhtar Malak Hassan, a highly respected chief of the Digil and Mirifle Somali clans, and belongs to the Leysan subdivision of the latter....

     – history
  • Mohamed Diriye Abdullahi
    Mohamed Diriye Abdullahi
    Mohamed Diriye Abdullahi is a Somali-Canadian scholar, linguist, writer and translator.-Biography:Formerly a journalist in his native Somalia, Abdullahi emigrated to Canada, where he earned a Master's degree and a Ph.D. in linguistics from the Université de Montréal in Montreal...

     – linguistics
  • Ali Jimale Ahmed – history and linguistics
  • Martin Orwin
    Martin Orwin
    Martin Orwin is a British linguist, scholar and writer, specializing in the languages and cultures of the Horn of Africa.-Biography:Orwin studied Arabic and Amharic and has a Ph.D. in the phonology of the Somali language...

     – linguistics
  • Enrico Cerulli
    Enrico Cerulli
    Enrico Cerulli was an Italian scholar of Somali and Ethiopian studies, a governor and a diplomat.-Biography:...

     – history and linguistics
  • Abdurahman Moalim Abdullahi Badiyow – history and politics
  • Abdullahi Hagi Bashir Ismail - history and politics
  • Ahmed Ismail Samatar
    Ahmed Ismail Samatar
    Ahmed Ismail Samatar is a prominent Somali writer, professor and dean of the Institute for Global Citizenship at Macalester College. He is the editor of Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies and brother of Abdi Ismail Samatar....

     – international relations
  • Abdi Ismail Samatar
    Abdi Ismail Samatar
    Abdi Ismail Samatar is Professor of Geography at the University of Minnesota. He is the author of An African Miracle published by Heinemann that was a finalist for the 2000 Herskovits Prize.-References:...

     – geography
  • Mustafa Abdullahi Feiruz – linguistics
  • Mohamed Abdi Gandi – anthropology
  • Bogumil Witalis Andrzejewski – linguistics
  • I.M. Lewis – anthropology and history
  • Charles Geshekter – history
  • Lee Cassanelli – history
  • Virginia Luling – history
  • Harold C. Fleming
    Harold C. Fleming
    Harold Crane Fleming is an American anthropologist and historical linguist, specializing in the cultures and languages of the Horn of Africa. As an adherent of the Four Field School of American anthropology, he stresses the integration of physical anthropology, linguistics, archaeology, and...

     – anthropology and linguistics

Award ceremonies and conferences

Since the early 1970s, the Academy of Somali Studies began to hold professional award-winning poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

 competitions after having been inspired by the traditional poetry competitions annually held throughout Somalia. The Somali Studies Association recognizes Somali scholars whose work concerning Somali studies stands out with the Musa Galaal award, a prize named after the Somali polymath
Polymath
A polymath is a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas. In less formal terms, a polymath may simply be someone who is very knowledgeable...

. In 1994, Charles L. Geshekter, Professor of History at California State University, Chico
California State University, Chico
California State University, Chico is the second-oldest campus in the twenty-three-campus California State University system. It is located in Chico, California, about ninety miles north of Sacramento...

, created an endowment for this award. Geshekter's mother and Musa Galaal (1914–1980) were friends. A financial prize is awarded annually.

Somali Studies journals

  • Bildhaan - an international journal of Somali studies
  • Horn of Africa - an independent journal
  • Anglo-Somali Society Journal
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