Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism

‘The Production of Space’, in: Frans Jacobi, Imagine, Space Poetry, Copenhagen, 1996, unpaginated.

The Production of Space

Human beings are described by many spiritual traditions as ‘blind’ or ‘asleep’ or ‘in a dream.’ These terms refers to the limited attenuated state of consciousness of most human beings caught up in patterns of conditioned thought, feeling and perception, which prevent the development of our latent, higher spiritual possibilities. In the words of Idries Shah: “Man, like a sleepwalker who suddenly ‘comes to’ on some lonely road has in general no correct idea as to his origins or his destiny.” In some religious traditions, such as Christianity and Islam, the myth of the ‘Fall from the Garden of Eden’ symbolizes the loss of the primordial state through the veiling of higher consciousness. Other traditions use similar metaphors to describe the spiritual condition of humanity:

The Human Condition.

Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the legacy of late colonialism

Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire. Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri. 2004. New York. Penguin Books. 448 pages. ISBN: 0143035592 (paper).

Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire

This introduction discusses the hope boom in anthropological studies, suggesting that it reflects two converging developments: a sense of increasing unpredictability and crisis, and a sense of lack of political and ideological direction in this situation. We further identify two overall trends in the anthropological literature gathered under the rubric of hope: an emphasis on hopefulness against all odds and one on specific formations of hope and temporal reasoning.

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Introduction: Hope over Time—Crisis, Immobility and Future-Making

Recently, the development initiatives of so-called ‘diasporas’ have gained the attention of policy-makers, scholars, NGOs, and migrants themselves. Migrants and ‘diasporas’ are seen as agents of development, who not only remit money to their countries of origin, but also transfer ideas of political, social, and cultural change. This article examines linkages between identity, transnational politics and development. Logics of transnational mobilisation and loyalties are analysed through a case study of a Somali transnational conference, paying particular attention to tensions between lineage affiliation and regional identification. At the conference, the establishment of trust between different transnational actors was seen as an important step towards reconciliation and development. Framing the event as ‘a meeting between intellectuals’ and as ‘the diaspora’, conference participants were positioned as agents of development and change. The article argues that ‘diaspora position’ is thereby linked to questi...

Mobilising ‘The Diaspora’: Somali Transnational Political Engagement

Since the early 1990s, the concept of diaspora has propagated in migration studies and gradually been appropriated by many migrant groups, who describe themselves as ‘diasporas’ in relation to political mobilisation and self-portrayal. In this article, claims made in the name of diaspora and their conditions for possibility are analysed through a focus on Somali migration. Two main arguments are presented. Firstly, that the identity category of ‘the Somali diaspora’ is constituted between marginalisation and invocations of a transnationally committed community, dedicated to the development of the homeland. Secondly, that the proliferation of diaspora claims can be understood as part of a broader societal development where migrant groups are seen as potential political actors. On the one hand, it is suggested this relates to the so-called ‘recognition turn’ where potential political legitimacy is ascribed to social struggles driven by experiences of misrecognition or marginalisation, making ‘diasporas’ pos...

In the Name of Diaspora: Between Struggles for Recognition and Political Aspirations

Following years of civil war, many Somalis are displaced in Western countries as refugees or family re-unified persons. This situation has caused multiple losses of social position and upheavals in gender relations. Although both men and women are subject to these changes, Somalis describe the situations of men as more difficult. Taking departure in multi-sited fieldwork in Copenhagen, Somaliland and London, this article explores how Somalis negotiate respectable masculinity in the Diaspora, arguing that men’s difficulties are articulated as a transfer of male authority to the welfare state, reflecting female empowerment and male misrecognition. However, the focus on men’s loss can also be understood as processes of positioning and of re-instituting a ‘traditional’ gender baseline in which the positions of respectable versus failed masculinity are established. Finally, the article argues that Somali men negotiate and enact respectable masculinity through associational and community involvement, creating alternative social spaces of recognition.

Nauja Kleist

Papers

Introduction: Hope over Time—Crisis, Immobility and Future-Making

Mobilising ‘The Diaspora’: Somali Transnational Political Engagement

In the Name of Diaspora: Between Struggles for Recognition and Political Aspirations

Negotiating Respectable Masculinity: Gender and Recognition in the Somali Diaspora

Modern chiefs: tradition, development and return among traditional authorities in ghana