Immigrant hierarchies and white supremacy: race and representation among east African immigrant Muslims

Abstract

In this essay, I argue that Somali identities exist within a long history of immigrant aspirations toward what scholars call “whiteness” and their resistance to being identified within identities associated with Blackness. There are two main frames of my argument. First, I show that Somali-Americans’ resistance to Blackness seems to be informed by intricate anti-Black racial understandings rooted in Somali society. Secondly, I argue that the tendency for Somalis to de-identify as Black denies them access to claim Blackness as a response to white anti-Black oppression. By using two autoethnographic incidents, I theorize that at least one aspect of Somali identity is continuously fleeing from Black identity and attempting to gain access to something to which bodies with Black skin have not had access - whiteness. This has implications for Somali-Americans navigating social justice in Trump-era and beyond.

Keywords:

• Cuqdad
• anti-Blackness
• Black immigrant
• Somali-American

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nimo M. Abdi

Nimo Mohamed Abdi, Ph.D. is an assistant professor in the department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Minnesota. Her research focuses on immigrant and refugee education, particularly as it relates to cultural, racial, and religious diversity. Her primary methodological approaches are phenomenology, decolonization theory/methodologies, and discourse analysis. Her work examines Somali educational experiences in urban United States, and the diaspora.