Will the nomadic spirit die in western Somalis? Or will it live on?

[mohammdov]

Let it die and rot

 

[yasmeen]

Let it die and rot

Why do you have a Che Guevara PFP? At least live by his energy. Self determination is everything.

 

[𐒋𐒖𐒆𐒔𐒖𐒕𐒈]

I can look to other communities and gather what their community’s overall nature is like. When I look at ours, however, I feel biased by my own experiences because I was socialized in a Somali household within the western world. I can’t articulate how I would describe our nature without coming across as biased and solipsistic.

Three things I narrowed it down to:
Prideful
Congenial (but only to people we like?)
Adaptable


Do you reckon aspects of our nature will likely disappear as we further become westernized? I know I’m gaal but I feel off about this. I feel like we can balance both our culture and western culture and optimize them so we can be the best. I like that we can adapt to different environments.

How would you describe our nature?

The backbone of the nomad's character and nature are derived from three primary sources:
a) Environment, whence his resilience, bravery, and adaptability come,
b) Islam, whence his ‘thiqah’, and ‘intima' ’ originates, and
c) Legacy in 'han', and 'qab' , whence congeniality has its roots.

By default at birth, Western-born nomads lack any of the above, except where their parents instill in their core, striving to acquaint them with, and return them to their root. If sons and daughters of nomads are not in (a), reject (b), and with a great deal of paucity in (c), do we suppose those ingredients to come from the ethereal?

I think not, which is the reason I say, Western-born sons and daughters, void of, unfamiliar with, and unable to tap into, the nomadic culture, should find a new identity, and not claim Somali.

 

[Yaraye]

I think not, which is the reason I say, Western-born sons and daughters, void of, unfamiliar with, and unable to tap into, the nomadic culture, should find a new identity, and not claim Somali.

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[Yaraye]

most somali parents only teach the deen and no somali history at all. without knowing one's history, there is no pride

 

[𐒋𐒖𐒆𐒔𐒖𐒕𐒈]

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But but but, I am full of, very familiar with, and am able to tap into, the nomadic culture unlike the many roaming in the squalor wilderness.

most somali parents only teach the deen and no somali history at all. without knowing one's history, there is no pride

Exactly my point, and therein lies the nucleus of the matter.

 

[Hamzarashid]

first, say bye to pride. There are somalis that have trouble believing there was once a time where somalia had empires/sultanates that traded with the world. Over time this problem will get worse and worse till somalis completely assimilate since they think they have no culture/history to begin with. So let alone aspects of our nature, i think the whole of somalinimo in the west will dissapear within 80-100 years if somalia doesnt get its act together

Yesterday I stumbled upon the most depressing shit I have ever seen . It was live where you had people who were debating whether Somali people had any sort of history and that Somali history was just less than 200s years ago and that we were controlled by the aksumites but were granted autonomy. Today, to have somalis utter the same words that haile selassie said to Europeans, which was that we have no history and were always nomadic pastorists who didn't amount to anything. This was the nail in the coffin for me that somalinimo is none existent. Now I have come to understand why people claim to be Arab, because if this is what they truly believe in, then why wouldn't they claim something other than themselves? The great irony is that somali were getting massacred by habesha because they knew Ahmed gurey was somali and now you're telling I have no history you can't make this shit up.

 

[𐒋𐒖𐒆𐒔𐒖𐒕𐒈]

The backbone of the nomad's character and nature are derived from three primary sources:
a) Environment, whence his resilience, bravery, and adaptability come,
b) Islam, whence his ‘thiqah’, and ‘intima' ’ originates, and
c) Legacy in 'han', and 'qab' , whence congeniality has its roots.

By default at birth, Western-born nomads lack any of the above, except where their parents instill in their core, striving to acquaint them with, and return them to their root. If sons and daughters of nomads are not in (a), reject (b), and with a great deal of paucity in (c), do we suppose those ingredients to come from the ethereal?

I think not, which is the reason I say, Western-born sons and daughters, void of, unfamiliar with, and unable to tap into, the nomadic culture, should find a new identity, and not claim Somali.

In legacy, I should note includes language, where if one speaks not, then one is lacking in more ways than not.

 

[xiin-finiin]

Yesterday I stumbled upon the most depressing shit I have ever seen . It was live where you had people who were debating whether Somali people had any sort of history and that Somali history was just less than 200s years ago and that we were controlled by the aksumites but were granted autonomy. Today, to have somalis utter the same words that haile selassie said to Europeans, which was that we have no history and were always nomadic pastorists who didn't amount to anything. This was the nail in the coffin for me that somalinimo is none existent. Now I have come to understand why people claim to be Arab, because if this is what they truly believe in, then why wouldn't they claim something other than themselves? The great irony is that somali were getting massacred by habesha because they knew Ahmed gurey was somali and now you're telling I have no history you can't make this shit up.

exactly what you are saying saxib. Our history is literally getting looted and there isn't much we can do about it. i have another example of this happening. i was doing research on the sayid and came across an article written by a source i trusted (at least till i saw what they had to say). They reduced him to a religious lunatic, a wahabi that was massacring innocent somalis and considered himself the "mahdi". Like they didn't mention (or mentioned only in passing) his war against the colonizers. I couldn't believe my eyes. The sad thing is, i don't think there is much we can do about it. Like, only a government can really help in this case. We might try to slow the process down, but inevitable, our whole history will be wiped out by either deeming it "fictional" or other groups will just claim it for themselves all together.

 

[NidarNidar]

i am still stubborn, hardheaded and prideful as ever despite being born in the west. it’s here to stay

xD I made sure to pass it off to my younger sibling, but culture dies with language, woman are very important in this regard to teach the kids about their history, but I've noticed mostly the children born within the last 10-15 years speak very little Somali while at home, mostly from Canada or the United States, my sister who are in that bracket went back 2 year ago during covid to get away from the mess and spent a year back home.