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ABSTRACT
Many of the explanations of Somali society, its state and the conflict in the country centre on the clan system and contain elements of primordialism or instrumentalism. Yet the assumptions underpinning these models have not been critically analysed. In these models, the Somali clan system is seen as either being primordial or flexible but ultimately manipulated by elites. This article, based on qualitative interviews and observations, analyses the utility of these two approaches and finds that the narratives founded thereon fail to comprehend fully the clan system in Somalia and, therefore, the society and conflict in the country. While rejecting these approaches as a theoretical framework, this paper offers an alternative understanding of Somali society and its clan system based on the notion of clan dynamism and its bidirectional manipulation, where it serves as a highly adaptive framework of governance, and a network of solidarity.
Acknowledgments
The author would like to thank Editors, Prof. Morten Bøås, Prof. Stig Jarle Hansen, and Prof. Cindy Horst, Prof. Günther Schlee and Dr. Markus V. Hoehne for comments on different versions of the manuscript.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Note on contributor
Mohamed Husein Gaas (PhD) is a guest lecturer at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and researches predominantly on issues concerning governance, conflict, peace and security in the Horn of Africa, including issues such as non-state governance, state building, and Al Shabaab in Somalia.
Notes
1 Many of the contributions discussing agnatic lines as tribes and clan in African studies can be divided into two categories – primordial and instrumental – even though not all the literature uses just these terms.
2 The notion of race has been introduced into Somali studies by Besteman (Citation2014) in her attempt to provide an alternative explanation to the conflict and state collapse in Somalia. The notion is deployed as tied to the legacy of slavery in southern Somalia.
3 All interviews were conducted in confidentiality, and the names of interviewees are withheld by mutual agreement.
4 Exceptions to this are the Bantu and Yibir groups (Luling Citation2006).
5 Mag is the same thing as Diya. Mag is Somali, Diya Arabic.
6 Interview with clan elder in Kismaayo, 2014; interview with clan elder in Mogadishu (via phone), 2014.
7 Interview with elder in Garowe, 2012; interview with clan elder in Kismaayo, 2014; and interview with clan elder in Nairobi, 2014.
8 For the critique of Van Notten (Citation2005), see Schlee (Citation2017).
9 In different Somali regions, there are different names, such as Boqor, Isim, Islaan, Suldaan, Garaad, Uqaas, and Imam, Malaq, and Weber used to indicate clan chiefdom. However, these different names do not reflect any difference in the roles of elders; rather, they reflect the different clans’ connotations of the clan chief. The connotations of these terms (implicit meanings) does not differ much. However, subject to clan tradition, and the situation at hand in some cases they may play different roles. After all, Boqor, Isim, Islaan, Suldaan, Garaad, Uqaas are much more common terms with pastoral Somali clans as these in Somaliland, Puntland, Galgudud and Hiiraan regions as well as in Jubaland. They are also more common in North Eastern Kenya, and in the Ogaden in Ethiopia. While the later three terms are largely common in southern Somalia clans that have either agro-pastoral or sedentary mode of life. Despite this, in most cases these are just considered as a terminological differences for clan chiefdom between different clans.
10 Interview with a Somali elder in Kismaayo, Somalia, in January 2014.
11 Ibid.
12 Interview 7 with an elder in Galkayo in July 2012 and Garowe in the same month.
13 Interview 4 with a Somali clan elder in Nairobi, Kenya, in August 2012.
14 Ibid.
15 Interview 5 with an elder in Garowe, July 2012.
16 Interview with two Somali sultans in Nairobi, 2011; interview 3 with a former Somali politician, Nairobi, in 2013.
17 Interview with sultan in Nairobi, 2011; Interview 3 with a former Somali politician, Nairobi, in 2013.
18 As per genealogies collected by Schlee (email correspondence Sep., 2018), ‘Ajuuraan only link themselves through a uterine link to Hawiye through Fadumo, daughter of Jambelle Hawiye’. The Gare that Schlee has talked to ‘do not claim such links at all’. However, they are considered ‘Hawiye’ in the wider political sense of post-civil war Somalia.
19 Group discussion with three elders and a former Somali army general in Nairobi, 2011.
20 While the Irir (as a name) had been there in the genealogies before it has never been considered as clan family of its own and has not thus existed as an effective solidarity unit as such prior the 1990. During this period Irir-ism, a term derived from Irir that literally means political alliance between Hawiye and Dir to oust Siyaad Bare Regime emerged as well.
21 Ibid.
22 Interview with an elder in Nairobi, July 2012.
23 Interview with local Somali historian in Garowe, July 2012.
24 Ibid.
25 Interview with a clan elders in Mogadishu (via phone), July 2012; Interview with clan elder in Garowe, Puntland, Somalia, July 2012.
26 Interview with local Somali historian in Garowe, July 2012.
27 Interview with an elder in Mogadishu and another in Nairobi, 2011.
28 Ibid.
29 Interview with a local Somali historian in Garowe, July 2012.
30 Interview with several Somali elders and intellectuals in Nairobi, 2014.
31 Interview with several Somali elders and intellectuals in Nairobi, Kenya, 2014.
32 Interview with a local Somali historian in Garowe, July 2012.
33 Interview with several Somali elders and intellectuals in Nairobi, 2014.
34 Interview with several Somali elders and intellectuals in Nairobi, January 2014.
35 Interview with former SPM and USC officers in Nairobi, 2012.
36 Ibid.
37 Ibid.
38 Ibid.
39 Ibid.
40 Ibid; interview with clan elder in Mogadishu via phone, 2011; interview with clan elder in Nairobi, 2013.
41 Ibid.
42 Interviews with several Somali elders in Kismaayo and in Nairobi, January 2014.
43 Interview with former minister at the TFG and SFG in Nairobi 2012, 2014.
44 Ibid.
45 Marshal Sahlin’s lecture on the early American anthropologist. Accessed on January 2016: www.youtube.com.
46 Interviews with former SPM and USC officers in Nairobi in 2012.
47 Interviews with former Somali national army officer in Nairobi, August, 2012.
48 Ibid.
49 Interviews with several clan elders and clan chiefs in Nairobi, Garowe and Kismaayo via phone in Mogadishu, 2013.
50 Interviews with former Somali national army officer in Nairobi, August, 2012.
51 Interviews with former SPM and USC officers in Nairobi, August, 2012.
52 Interviews with several clan elders and clan chiefs in Nairobi, Garowe and Kismaayo via phone in Mogadishu, 2013 and 2014.
53 Ibid.
54 Ibid.
55 Interviews with former SNM, SPM and USC officers in Nairobi, 2012.
56 Interviews with former SPM and USC officers in Nairobi, 2012.
57 Interviews with several clan elders and clan chiefs in Nairobi, Mogadishu, Garowe and Kinmayo via phone. June 2013.
58 Interviews with former SPM and USC officers in Nairobi, 2012.
59 Interview with several clan elders in Mogaidhu (via phone), August 2012.
60 Ibid.
61 Ibid.
62 Ibid.