The plight of the Agro‐pastoral society of Somalia

Mukhtar, Mohamed Haji

doi:10.1080/03056249608704222

ScienceOpen: research and publishing network

For Publishers

For Researchers

Blog
About

Search
Advanced search

223

views

recommends

This article like the rest of this issue of the Review of African Political Economy is openly accessible without the need to subscribe or register.

For 50 years, ROAPE has brought our readers path-breaking analysis on radical African political economy in our quarterly review, and for more than ten years on our website. Subscriptions and donations are essential to keeping our review and website alive. Please consider subscribing or donating today.

scite_

Smart Citations

Citing PublicationsSupportingMentioningContrasting

View Citations

See how this article has been cited at scite.ai

scite shows how a scientific paper has been cited by providing the context of the citation, a classification describing whether it supports, mentions, or contrasts the cited claim, and a label indicating in which section the citation was made.

Header Abstract Content Author and article information Bibliography Comments

Review of African Political Economy

Volume 23, Issue 70

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: found

Is Open Access

The plight of the Agro‐pastoral society of Somalia

Published

research-article

Author(s): Mohamed Haji Mukhtar ^a

Publication date (Print): December 1996

Journal: Review of African Political Economy

Publisher: Review of African Political Economy

Bookmark

Abstract

Despite advances in modern communication and the proliferation of information, there remain areas of the world about which little is known. One such place is Somalia. The informed public is aware of a political ‘meltdown’ and consequent chaos there, but few comprehend the causes of this tragic crisis. Unless and until there is greater understanding of the basic issues involved, Somalia will continue to suffer mayhem and chronic disorder. This article assesses some of the factors involved in the current civil war in Somalia, especially as they pertain to the inter riverine region of the south. Particular emphasis is placed on the Dighil/Mirifle clan in that region.

In contrast to the single cause analysis that attributes all to Siad Barré's dictatorship, which is adopted by nearly every Somali scholar and politician, the article investigates the social causes of the worst civil war in the modern history of this country. The single cause analysis is inadequate because it is not so much scientific as ideological, and represents the desire of nomadic groups to impose cultural and political hegemony on the settled agro‐pastoralist groups in and around the inter‐riverine region in the south. The basic tenet of this hegemonic ambition is an invented homogeneity, which presents Somalia as one of the few culturally homogeneous countries in Africa, if not the world. The Somali people are said to have a single language and to share a mono‐culture. In fact, Somalia has always been divided into southern agro‐pastoral clans and northern nomadic clans which have distinctively different cultural, linguistic, and social structures. The monoculture about which most students of Somalia speak is extrapolated mainly from the study of the northern part of the country, where most of the research into Somali culture was undertaken. The assumptions and extrapolations of these northern‐based studies were later applied to other parts of the country without any scientific basis. The myth of Somali homogeneity played a major role in the rise of nomadic clans to political predominance, and the appropriation of resources from the less warlike and intensely religious agro‐pastoral groups in and around the inter‐riverine region. A major factor in the Somali conflict is the struggle among clans for control of limited and increasingly scarce resources, especially land and water. More specifically, it is a violent competition between the Darood and Hawiye clan families for political and economic dominance of the inter‐riverine region.

Content

Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (publisher-id): crea20

Journal ID (archive): CREA

Title: Review of African Political Economy

Publisher: Review of African Political Economy

ISSN (Print): 0305-6244

ISSN (Electronic): 1740-1720

Publication date (Print): December 1996

Volume: 23

Issue: 70

Pages: 543-553

Affiliations

^a Savannah State University , Savannah , Georgia

Article

Publisher ID: 8704222 Coden ID: Review of African Political Economy, Vol. 23, No. 70, December 1996, pp. 543-553

DOI: 10.1080/03056249608704222

SO-VID: f0c1b907-f501-4ec4-be55-9688b6121f3f

License:

All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

History

Page count

Figures: 0, Tables: 0, References: 12, Pages: 11

Bibliography

Abyan I M. . ‘Development and its Social Impact on the Local Community in the Juba Valley’. In: . Proceedings of the 3rd International Congress of Somali Studies; . Rome. .
Ahmed Ali Jimale. . 1995. . The Invention of Somalia . , Lawrenceville : : Red Sea Press. .
Ali A Qassim. . ‘Land Rush in Southern Somalia’. In: . Proceedings of the 37th Annual Meeting of ASA; . Toronto .
Cassanelli Lee V. . 1982. . The Shaping of Somali Society, Reconstructing the History of a Pastoral People, 1600–1900 . , Philadelphia : : University of Pennsylvania Press. .
De Vecchi di Val Cismon. . 1935. . Orizzonti d'impero: Cinque Anni in Somalia . , Milan : : Mondadori. .
Hirsch John L and Oakley Robert B. . 1995. . Somalia and Operation Restore Hope, Reflections on Peacemaking and Peacekeeping . , Washington : : United States Institute of Peace Press. .
Marks John. . 6 February. 1993 . “‘Letter to Friends: Impressions from Baidoa, Qansahdhere and Kismayu’. ”. 6 February. , Hegg : : Wisconsin. .
Mukhtar M H, Helander Bernhard and Lewis I M. . 1995. . “/Building Peace From Below? A Critical Record of the District Councils in the Bay and Bakool Regions of Southern Somalia’. ”. Uppsala : : The Life and Peace Institute. .
Mukhtar M H and Kusow Abdi M. . “‘The Bottom‐Up Approach in Reconciliation in the Inter‐river Region of Somalia’. ”.
Mukhtar M H. . 1989. . ‘The Emergence and Role of Political Parties in the Inter‐river Region of Somalia From 1947–60’. . Ufahamu . , Vol. XVII((II))
Rava Maurizio. . 21 Aprile. 1932 . “‘Circolare Governatoriale No. 160’. ”. 21 Aprile. , Mogadiscio :
Sahnoun Muhamed. . 1994. . Somalia: The Missed Opportunities . , Washington : : United States Institute of Peace Press. .

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] Abyan I M. . ‘Development and its Social Impact on the Local Community in the Juba Valley’. In: . Proceedings of the 3rd International Congress of Somali Studies; . Rome. .

[2] Ahmed Ali Jimale. . 1995. . The Invention of Somalia . , Lawrenceville : : Red Sea Press. .

[3] Ali A Qassim. . ‘Land Rush in Southern Somalia’. In: . Proceedings of the 37th Annual Meeting of ASA; . Toronto .

[4] Cassanelli Lee V. . 1982. . The Shaping of Somali Society, Reconstructing the History of a Pastoral People, 1600–1900 . , Philadelphia : : University of Pennsylvania Press. .

[5] De Vecchi di Val Cismon. . 1935. . Orizzonti d'impero: Cinque Anni in Somalia . , Milan : : Mondadori. .

[6] Hirsch John L and Oakley Robert B. . 1995. . Somalia and Operation Restore Hope, Reflections on Peacemaking and Peacekeeping . , Washington : : United States Institute of Peace Press. .

[7] Marks John. . 6 February. 1993 . “‘Letter to Friends: Impressions from Baidoa, Qansahdhere and Kismayu’. ”. 6 February. , Hegg : : Wisconsin. .

[8] Mukhtar M H, Helander Bernhard and Lewis I M. . 1995. . “/Building Peace From Below? A Critical Record of the District Councils in the Bay and Bakool Regions of Southern Somalia’. ”. Uppsala : : The Life and Peace Institute. .

[9] Mukhtar M H and Kusow Abdi M. . “‘The Bottom‐Up Approach in Reconciliation in the Inter‐river Region of Somalia’. ”.

[10] Mukhtar M H. . 1989. . ‘The Emergence and Role of Political Parties in the Inter‐river Region of Somalia From 1947–60’. . Ufahamu . , Vol. XVII((II))

[11] Rava Maurizio. . 21 Aprile. 1932 . “‘Circolare Governatoriale No. 160’. ”. 21 Aprile. , Mogadiscio :

[12] Sahnoun Muhamed. . 1994. . Somalia: The Missed Opportunities . , Washington : : United States Institute of Peace Press. .

Review of African Political Economy

The plight of the Agro‐pastoral society of Somalia

Journal

Affiliations

Article

History

Page count

Categories

Comment on this article