FROM CLANS TO COLONIALS TO CONTEMPORARY TIMES: THE SHIFTING DYNAMICS OF SOMALI SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, AND CULTURAL LIFE

Authors: Zakarie Abdi Bade

ABSTRACT

Community transformation has been vital throughout human existence. It deals with community alterations of lifestyle in a new direction. Likewise, Somali communities have been experiencing strings of transformations throughout their lifespan. This transformation starts with Somali communities’ first immigration to the current life experience. Therefore, this article attempts to briefly note down the significant transformation of Somali communities during pre and postcolonial periods. The article employs historical analysis as the methodology which facilitates understanding the complex process of change and continuity over time. The article argues that the significant transformations in the pre-colonial period include shaping and forming imagined clans based on genealogy and contract, their traditional system of law, and the formation of faith-based imagined Sufi communities. The article also argues the significant transformation of Somali communities, including the economic transformation from family-based production to a capitalist production system. It also highlights the alteration of the traditional public law system to the Indian Penal Law and the Indian Code of Civil Procedure which was never applicable and transparent to the Somali communities. Finally, it argues that Somali communities transformed into having discrete beyond-border identities in Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somaliland as the consequences of colonial jurisdiction.

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