Somalis make up significant minorities in countries such as Canada, the UK and the Nordic countries. What is it like to grow up with the awareness of the war and unrest in the home country, while growing up in a different country, surrounded by prejudice against Somalia and Somalis? What challenges do you meet when trying to navigate your own identity, in the intersection between different cultures, traditions and histories?
«The war destroyed a lot of Somali culture and cultural expressions», the poet Farah Gabdon has said. She belongs to the new wave of artists from the diaspora writing and performing poetry with roots in the Somali oral poetry tradition. Safia Aidid is a PhD candidate at Harvard, and has made her mark in debates about Somali identity and history. Through music and in other ways, the artist Aar Maanta is involved in questions that occupy the Somali diaspora. The three will meet for a conversation led by the renowned writer and journalist Åsne Seierstad.
(In the photo: Farah Gabdon)
English Safia Aidid, Farah Gabdon, Aar Maanta and Åsne Seierstad Wergeland Litteraturhuset Somaliske dager. A Nation of Poets