Somali Culture Police (rant)

[hayran]

came across this video on my fyp earlier today, this is gonna be a pretty long post

I have several issues with this video, first off this guy is a moron who shouldn't be speaking on these things.

My main gripe with it, which is a wider trend among diaspora cultural discourse is that he appeals to this total nonsensical view of history and human culture.

"baaaah we got it from ajnabi therefore it's not our KULCHA mayne"

nevermind the fact that garbs, food, art, language, religion etc are things that spread from one group to another, cultural exchange has always existed throughout human history and happens today on a mass scale (as evidenced by his own argument itself which finds its root in a western university sometime around the 1960s, not from his "elders").

basically everyone is cool with that because it's the most normal thing ever, japanese use a chinese script, the french and spanish got their language from the romans, the romans copied nearly everything from the greeks you can go on with this stuff, hell everything you associate with imperial ethiopia was made by armenians. no one actually gives a f*ck about where something came from as long as it works

but somalis will be the first to shut you down if you show interest in anything related to your own culture, even if that's what you known your whole life.

bananas? "ummm thats FASCIST actually" (real thing safia aideed said on Xitter last week, not even joking)

bariis? "ooh yeah sorry but thats from india or yemen"

"oh that word isn't somali, it's an arabic loanword or something"
"ok so what's an actual native somali word for this?"
"........"

as for the jouke, even if what he said is true (i don't even care enough to research that, neither should you) the fact is that it was real, people wore it and it's appealing enough for those redditors to try and revive it. end of story. if that many people wore it, it is part of the culture and if people wear it now and in the future it will be somali culture. regardless of where it came from. not everything has to grow off a gob tree to be considered somali culture. maybe you dislike it but don't deny it's existence

how far does this purity spiral go? i've never seen them talk about cambuulo, which is made up of beans that are native to the new world.. if you keep going down this purity rabbit hole all you will have is go' iyo maro and camels which is pretty much all they know. that is just unappealing and turns anyone off. the term "kitsch" isn't low enough to describe that camel fetishization. i'm getting sick of it

this is the somalia i know, f*ck your stupid camels

 

[wonyluvr]

Cambuulo is native though

 

[hayran]

Cambuulo is native though

they aren't, the beans are from china. and the beans that are used the most originated in south america

 

[vivids]

I see the opposite on my fyp. People arguing that xyz is ours and always has been. It’s usually when they’re arguing against yemenis tho. Loanwords are tricky but I think people saying shisheeye instead of ajnabi isn’t bad

 

[hayran]

I see the opposite on my fyp. People arguing that xyz is ours and always has been. It’s usually when they’re arguing against yemenis tho. Loanwords are tricky but I think people saying shisheeye instead of ajnabi isn’t bad

i'm generally in favor of native words and native names. i think lots of money should be poured into our linguistic studies but nitpicking is the most useless shit ever.

 

[EyiPunter]

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[Keep it a boqol]

i'm generally in favor of native words and native names. i think lots of money should be poured into our linguistic studies but nitpicking is the most useless shit ever.

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[JamalFarah]

Cultural exchange has always existed and will continue to do so. Cultures assimilate, synthesize, and integrate new concepts and ideas into their practices. This applies to all aspects, from clothing to speech, food, and beyond. This is a positive phenomenon.

The best example is the Japanese. They came into contact with Westerners and learned, copied, adapted, improved, and integrated new technologies, ideas, philosophies, and sciences. Through this synthesis within their culture, Japan has arguably been a significant global power for the last century.

By assimilating and adapting these external influences on their terms, they have made them a part of their own culture.

Conversely, examples of cultures being destroyed or rendered unrecognizable include Native American communities. The stark difference here is that their cultural changes were forced upon them through genocide and mass killings, leading to the loss of languages, histories, and other cultural elements forever.

Is Somali poetry not part of Somali culture because it uses a Somali-adapted Latin script? Clearly, that notion is absurd.

I would argue that certain aspects of Somali culture must change to enable the Somali nation to truly thrive and blossom.

The whole thobe stuff is just cope because it became big in the Western Muslim scenes and has been misinterpreted by non-Arab Muslims. Truth is, non-Arab Muslims see anything Arabic as being inherently good and the way things have to be, regardless of whether it's reinforced by the Qur'an or the Hadiths. If an Arab would watch Naruto before breakfast, non-Arabs would say it's actually a very Islamic, holy thing to do and would blindly follow; it's to the point of self-mutilation.

The thobe is just an article of clothing, but some non-Arabs see it as fancy wear. This is why there is a rise of non-Arabs wearing Arab clothing for special occasions that are viewed by Arabs as just being regular clothes, which is kind of embarrassing.

 

[Internet Nomad]

Coonery on display

 

[Devilsadvocate]

A lot of Korean culture is originally from China or Japan, but it’s been changed to suit them and is now very unique. But you don’t see people say Korean culture isn’t theirs when it is. Every single country has been influenced by another, and it’s not that serious.

 

[Idilinaa]

Cultural exchange has always existed and will continue to do so. Cultures assimilate, synthesize, and integrate new concepts and ideas into their practices. This applies to all aspects, from clothing to speech, food, and beyond. This is a positive phenomenon.

The best example is the Japanese. They came into contact with Westerners and learned, copied, adapted, improved, and integrated new technologies, ideas, philosophies, and sciences. Through this synthesis within their culture, Japan has arguably been a significant global power for the last century.

By assimilating and adapting these external influences on their terms, they have made them a part of their own culture.

Conversely, examples of cultures being destroyed or rendered unrecognizable include Native American communities. The stark difference here is that their cultural changes were forced upon them through genocide and mass killings, leading to the loss of languages, histories, and other cultural elements forever.

Is Somali poetry not part of Somali culture because it uses a Somali-adapted Latin script? Clearly, that notion is absurd.

I would argue that certain aspects of Somali culture must change to enable the Somali nation to truly thrive and blossom.

The whole thobe stuff is just cope because it became big in the Western Muslim scenes and has been misinterpreted by non-Arab Muslims. Truth is, non-Arab Muslims see anything Arabic as being inherently good and the way things have to be, regardless of whether it's reinforced by the Qur'an or the Hadiths. If an Arab would watch Naruto before breakfast, non-Arabs would say it's actually a very Islamic, holy thing to do and would blindly follow; it's to the point of self-mutilation.

The thobe is just an article of clothing, but some non-Arabs see it as fancy wear. This is why there is a rise of non-Arabs wearing Arab clothing for special occasions that are viewed by Arabs as just being regular clothes, which is kind of embarrassing.

They think Somali culture is meant to exists in isolation against our neighbors and they short change it as well in process. Somalis were kinda of a cultural extension of Arabia in many ways throughout our history.

There are medieval descriptions of Somali upper classes wearing cloaks and sewn thobes, while the common people wore two futa.

And the two futa they believe is exclusive expressions of Somali dress code are also worn by Arabs.

They don't know what Somali culture is, waa jahiil.

The left thumbnail he shows men wearing ''two futa'' which is also what Arabs and Northern African bedouins dressed in. I can easily claim this to be Arab culture, if i follow his logic

And on the right thumbnail photo he shows sheikhs wearing thobes and caps. Somalis from the past and especially the upper classes also wore thobes/qamis, cloaks and skull caps(Koofiyad), turbans(mamad) so how is this Arabization? when they are dressed in the same way as the past and it was part of our culture as well.

The all start from a false invented premise where ignorant Somalis don't understand their own regional history can't see we that Somalis , even before Islam was just a cultural extension of Northern Africa and Arabia.

If they want to create a create a cultural dress code, do what other communities have done re-invent what that richer/wealthy upper classes wore, not from what some poor bedouins/common folk wore and create new style around it if you must.

1300s and 1500s description of Somali dress code and the separation between upper class and common folk:
''The soldiers, Nobles, Kings and the scholars ( Sheikhs, Qadi, Sharifs ) some wore shirts, sewn garments and overalls and most others wore cloaks. The swordsmen all wore trousers/pants.''
''The Nobles, Swordsmen wear cotton headdress whilst the King wears silk headdress
The Qadis/Jurists wear Turbans(imamad) while the general public wear skull caps (Kofiyads) and kafiyeehs.
The commoners wore wrapped garments that was draped around their bodies , (two futa) one on his shoulder, wrapped around his waist and the other on his waist.

See the full run down here:

SOCIETY AND TECHNOLOGY IN ETHIOPIA 1500-1800

Also I've posted this video before but if you go to minute 41:00 this scholar talks about how as they get more sources on ethiopian history and they more critically examine them. There's a lot more skepticism on the authenticty of things like the attribution of the churches to lailabella or...

www.somalispot.com

1800s comment on upper class Somalis dress code.

Heck even Arabs in Oman imported articles of clothing and wore skull caps ''Koofiyaad'' that was made in Somalia. Embraced it as a part of their culture. They don't fight it off as if it's something foreign and try to police the culture.

 

[rayxn3]

A lot of Korean culture is originally from China or Japan, but it’s been changed to suit them and is now very unique. But you don’t see people say Korean culture isn’t theirs when it is. Every single country has been influenced by another, and it’s not that serious.

Japanese culture also comes from China. Somali men discrediting their own people look so dumb.