Understanding Somalia and Somaliland
Culture, History and Society
Published on 16. September 2008
Book
Hardback
176 pages
978-1-85065-904-4 (ISBN)
Description
Ioan Lewis details the history and culture of the Somali people, providing a unique window into this little-known culture and its increasingly public predicaments. He provides insight into the complex social, historical, and cultural hinterland that is the Somali heritage and pays close attention to the pervasive influence of traditional nomadism, especially its extremely decentralized nature. Lewis also addresses developments in the Somali political region since the collapse of the Republic in 1991, including the formation and steady development of the democratic state of Somaliland. Though it has grown into a de facto personality, this self-governing outpost of democracy is still officially unrecognized internationally. Lewis concludes with a discussion of the Islamist movement that brought a brief but astonishing period of stability to much of Southern Somalia in late 2006.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Illustrations
maps
ISBN-13
978-1-85065-904-4 (9781850659044)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
I.M. Lewis FBA, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the LSE, is recognised internationally as the leading academic authority on the history and cultures of the Somali people, on which he has written dozens of books and articles over the last fifty years. Anita S. Adam lived for many years in Somalia and is conducting research on the Benadiri communities of Southern Somalia at SOAS, University of London.
Content
ContentsPart One: The Social Setting 1. The Somali Ethnic Region 2. Migration and the Islamic Tradition 3. The Somali Nation and its Traditional Divisions4. Family Organisation 5. Marriage Arrangements 6. Religion and General Cultural Characteristics 7. The Oral Heritage 8. Self-image and National CharacteristicsPart Two: Pre- and Post-Colonial History 9. The Imperial Partition (1880-1941)10. The Re-partition of the Somalis (1941-60) 11. Independence 1960-196912. The Pan-Somali Struggle (1960-9) 13. Military Rule and Revolution (1969-74)14. Scientific Socialism in Somalia15. The Resumption of the Pan-Somali Struggle (1974-8)16. The Russian Legacy17. Government and Rural SocietyPart Three: Society and Economy18. Traditional Rural Social Institutions19. Local Groups and Settlement Patterns20. Livestock Trade and Labour Migration21. Northern Cultivating Settlements22. Southern Cultivating Settlements23. State Settlement Schemes Following the 'Drought of the Long Tail'24. The Refugee Crisis (1978-80)25. Internal Dissent After the Ogaden WarPart Four: Civil War and the Birth of New Polities26. Peace with Ethiopia, Chaos at home27. The Rebirth of Somaliland28. International Intervention29. The Arta 'transitional government'30. The Mbagathi 'transitional federal government'31. Islam brings peace to Mogadishu32. Somaliland: the power of home-made democracy33. Puntland and other possibilitiesAppendicesDiagrams, Tables & Maps