The Somali community in the UK: What we know and how we ... - ICAR

British peers. Writing of the “cultural confusion”
confronting Somali teenagers, Hannan (2003:
35) argues that adults may react with “extreme
traditionalism”, countered by “obsessive
‘assimilationism’ in the young”. Whilst parents seek
security in their own culture, their children strive
to adapt, and in doing so gain a superior grasp of
the wider society. Somalis often point out that it is
children who may provide the bridge between their
elders and officialdom - dealing with paperwork
and translating at the surgery and social security
office. These roles conflict with the ‘traditional’
authority of the adult.
Many of the older generation, mourning the
dilution of Somali mores, attempt to redress
assimilation into popular youth culture by involving
their children in ‘Somali’ activities. The report on
Somali Culture to the Somali Community Meeting
instigated by the human rights organisation
Liberation and Jeremy Corbyn MP (29.04.03)
warned that:
….I feel that the Somali children are in danger
loosing [losing] their culture and tradition.
We have very strong culture and tradition such
as our own singing, dancing, dressing, food,
cooking, poems and many others. In this
respect, in order to save our culture and
tradition we would need to set up our own
centres to carry out workshops assembles
[assemblies], teaching, holding cultural fashion
events… This would enable us to orientate
our children to prevent, drugs, thefts and bad
attitudes in public… These children have
difficulty to go out alone because they afraid
racism attacks but if there would be cultural
centres that they could entertain during their
spare times would help them. 102
But ‘culture’ is as ‘culture’ does. Culture is the
fabric of actual lived experience, not a static
heritage that can be meaningfully reproduced in any
context. If the children on stage at a Somali event
seem a little lacklustre, it is because their dance is
not an integral part of their daily lives. The problem
is complex: whilst a celebration of ethnic identity
is significant for both young and old, it cannot in
itself provide an instinctive moral framework which
will inevitably override external influence. In the
view of one confident and successful young woman,
Ubah Egoh, the attempt to corral youngsters into
the Somali fold with after school and weekend
cultural events is counterproductive, breeding
resentment and encouraging wild behaviour in
the comparatively free atmosphere of school. 103
Ubah also pointed out that when parents feel
powerless in other areas of their lives, they may
try to exert control over the only thing they can
- their children. But strict discipline at home along
accepted Somali lines can lead to duplicity and
non-communication between child and parent.
Attempts to insulate children are also doomed to
failure - ‘culture’ is communicated by the media,
advertising, daily contact in shops and streets. As a
Somali youth leader put it, neither homes nor even
faith schools can be ‘waterproof’ against the wider
society.
In order to manage daily life, young people must
feel comfortable with the culture of their peers.
When Ahmed arrived in the UK, he felt isolated
not only from British youth, but also from the
other Somali children in the family who had grown
up in London. The older children are when they
land in the UK and the less education and the
more trauma they may have experienced, the wider
the cultural and linguistic gap between themselves
and other young people is likely to be. For younger
arrivals it will be less difficult to negotiate the
demands of home, school, and street. Teenage boys
in the Horn Stars Somali youth club who came to
London when they were small say that their Somali
identity is significant. Some are proud of belonging
to a family ‘tribe’ that can trace relationships back
for generations, and all express the feelings of
solidarity that exist inside the community - feelings
which spill over to any Somali, wherever he or she
may be encountered. But they also see themselves
as part of British society. They describe themselves
as ‘a Somali British citizen’ or ‘a black British African
Somali’ and claim that they can fit into school life as
well as into their own Somali organisation. 104
101. Ibid.: 53.
102. Halim Mohamoud, Somali culture in UK. Reproduced as written
103. Interviews, 18.3.03.
104. Interview 4.4.03.
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