Somali women negotiating and navigating state sanctioned motherhood in the diaspora

• In Event: Unsettling Normative Conceptions: Black Motherwork, Diaspora, and Abuelita Epistemologies

Abstract

Recently, researchers are increasingly becoming aware that school-community engagement scholarship needs to consider community-based epistemologies and worldviews. Yet, conceptions of family and community are mainly based on Western understandings, without considering the impact of colonization that continues to undermine the role and experiences of marginalized parents. Drawing on Black feminist thought, African feminist scholarship, and anti-racist literature, we explore the experiences of motherhood in relation to schooling among a group of Somali immigrant mothers in the UK and the US. We examine how the historical construction of motherhood in both African and Western cultures influence Somali mothers’ relationship with their children’s school and community. Our analysis show traditional knowledge on family and community is central to motherhood, with implications for research, educational practice and community engagement, and for Somali community.

Author

• Nimo Abdi, Ohio State University