ERIC Number: EJ1239913
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020
Pages: 11
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0951-8398
EISSN: N/A
Immigrant Hierarchies and White Supremacy: Race and Representation among East African Immigrant Muslims
International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (QSE), v33 n2 p274-284 2020
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.
Descriptors: Immigrants, Muslims, Whites, History, Blacks, African Culture, Racial Identification, Race, Power Structure, Ethnography, Social Justice, Political Attitudes, Foreign Countries, Cultural Background, Ethnicity, Racial Attitudes, Phenomenology, Tribes, North Americans, Social Systems, Social Class
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Somalia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A