This book offers an innovative approach to migration by exploring Somali youths’ tahriib, their ‘journey into the unknown’. When young Somali men and women refer to the ‘unknown’, they recognize the uncertainty of their journeys. This uncertainty is partly due to the laws and policies that restrict the right to cross national boundaries and define their movements as illegal. Based on fieldwork conducted with Somali youth, mainly from Somaliland, the book details their perceptions of the journey and their practices on the way. The author shows how they position themselves in a constantly changing world before and during the so-called migration crisis that began in 2015. A vital part of tahriib is the constant search for information on possible routes ahead, a search that intensifies as the journey progresses. Specific policy responses, such as biometric registration, influence practices of gathering and sharing information. They have implications for the creation and shattering of hope and the experience of time en route. The book demonstrates that tahriib is ultimately about spending one’s time wisely and about creating and maintaining hope in what may seem hopeless situations.
Author(s): Anja Simonsen
Series: Migration, Diasporas and Citizenship
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 239
City: London
Preface
Names, Places, Transliterations and Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Contents
List of Figures
1: Introduction: Uncertainties of Migration
History/ies of Migration
Colonialism and Beyond
En Route: Flows of Information, Hope and Temporality
Ethnographic Footsteps
Moving Boundaries: Ethical Considerations
The Journey into the Unknown
References
2: A History of Lives on the Move
Snapshots: Histories of Migration- and Refugee Studies
Emic Notions of Movement: Nomads, Camels and Coping Strategies
Suudaal: Searching for Personal Security
Taber: He Who Passed the Red Sea
Tahriib: In the Footsteps of Generations
Tahriib in the Young Generation
Zeynab
Salaado
References
Internet Sources
3: ‘If I Die, I have Already Died’: Entanglements of Social Death
With Age Comes Wisdom
Investments in the Future
Responsibilities of Adulthood
Where Are You From?: Hierarchies of Clan
Déclassement: Moving in the Wrong Direction
Girls in the House
Freedom: Opportunities, Independence and Adventure
Transnational Marriage
‘Social death’ Revisited
References
Internet Sources
4: Walking the Road of Hope
Hope and Migration Literature
Social Hopes: Collective Dreams and Beliefs
Local Distributions of Hope: From Education to Tahriib
Practising Tahriib at Home
‘I want to become like Obama’
Bends and Dead Ends Along the Road
Practising Hope Between Reality and Fantasy
References
Internet Sources
5: Uncertainty of Information in Unknown Terrain
Kutiri Kuteen [Hearsay]
Goodbye Hargeisa
Untold Stories
Unpredictable Risks
Women, Tahriib and the Search for Information
The Search for a Similar Face
Trust, Secrecy and the Unequal Distribution of Information
(Mis)Trusting in Unknown Terrain
References
6: Tempo(S) of Time En Route
Engaging Time in the Right Way
The ‘time work’ of Leisure
‘We live together, we die together’: Wasting Precious Time
Changing Tempos: Getting Stuck and Moving Fast
Negotiating the Future
References
7: Biometric Ambiguities
(Un)Certainty of Biometric Technologies
The Day of Judgement
Securing Survival in the Land of No Life
Securing a Future
References
Websites
8: Making Home
Emplacement: New Opportunities and Existential Life-Making
Returning Home
When Home Is Where the Heart Is
‘In-between’: The Search for a Place to Make Home
Qurbajoog: Ascriptions of Success
The Ultimate Homecoming
References
Internet Sources
9: Conclusion: Universal Uncertainties
References
Websites
Index
