Since the early 1990s, Somalis have been a growing and flourishing presence in Canada and other nations in the Global North. In 2017, I organized the first ever multidisciplinary day-long colloquium highlighting the reflections on the resilience and the diversity in the experiences of the first and second-generation Somali-Canadians. The colloquium was designed to create a dialogue between Somali students, academics and the community. The colloquium presented discourse around a range of topics such as: The politics and poetics of Somali diasporic communities, their location at the intersection of multiple identities/oppressions (Blackness and antiblackness, colonialism and coloniality, Islam and Islamophobia, refugee/new immigrant identities and xenophobia, and more), understanding health, mental and stigma, educational barriers and the relationship Somali-Canadians have with other communities such as Indigenous nations and other black diasporic communities. This seminar will set the stage for a more robust debate as we prepare to organize a second colloquium in the fall of 2019. What topics are relevant to current Somali Studies in Canada? Who should be included in this type of study? And in general, what does the future of Somali Diasporic studies look like?

About Speaker: Professor Nimo Bokore (School of Social Work, Carleton University)
Nimo Bokore is an Assistant Professor at Carleton University’s School of Social Work. Her education, research and practice background is: neuroscience and social work; forced migration, and resettlement, trauma and transference; mental health and health; equity and higher education; poverty and social policy.

This is part of the African Studies Brownbag Seminar Series