Somali Week 2016

Key information

Date
Time
6:00 PM to 9:30 PM
Venue
Paul Webley Wing (Senate House)
Room
Alumni Theatre, room 110

About this event

Prof Ali Jimale Ahmed, Dr Dafina Paca, Dr Simon Goodman, Guled Ibrahim, and Dr Idil Osman

SOAS in collaboration with Bloomsbury Somali Studies and the Centre for Migration and Diaspora Studies presents *Somali Week at SOAS, "A conversation with Prof. Ali Jimale Ahmed" and a panel discussion "Multiculturalism Post-Brexit.

Panel 1 : In conversation with Prof Ali Jimale Ahmed

An opportunity to converse and discuss Prof. Ali Jimale Ahmed’s poetry, literature, and academic writings, and his thoughts on education, teaching, and the arts.
Prof Ali Jimale Ahmed is from Queens College and the Graduate Center of
the City University of New York. Prof Jimale is the Chair of Comparative
Literature at Queens College, and teaches courses in African, Middle
Eastern, and European literature. His books include: The Invention of
Somalia (Red Sea Press, 1995); Daybreak Is Near: Literature, Clans, and
the Nation-State in Somalia (Red Sea Press, 1996);Fear Is a Cow (Red Sea Press, 2002);and When Donkeys Give Birth to Calves: Totems, Wars, Horizons, Diasporas (Red Sea Press, 2012) and he was one of the first scholars to challenge and deconstruct the politicised narratives around Somali identity and culture and homogeneity.


Panel 2 : Multiculturalism Post-Brexit

The Brexit vote was a shock to many, with a key underlying reason being that this new and rising English nationalism is anti-immigration and even anti-multiculturalist in its orientation. Up until recent years, especially under New Labour, definitions of Britishness emphasised that modern Britain was a multi-national, multicultural society. There are many ways to be British and these ways were fluid and changing. Ethnic minorities, have to a certain extent, become more woven into the life of Britain and they were redefining what it meant to be British. Brexit has arguably put a dent on this progress. There is mounting evidence now that the result of Brexit have led to an uptick in racial abuse and harassment, generating a need to rebalance what it means to be British in order to give due emphasis to what we have in common as well as respect for difference. This session brings together panel members well- versed in matters related to multiculturalism and aims to shed light on the state of multiculturalism post-Brexit.

Dr Dafina Paca is a Cultural Studies scholar based at Cardiff University's School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies. Her research interests are in representations of ethnic minorities and asylum seekers, gender issues, identity and cultural politics. Her doctoral thesis explored the discursive construction of identity/s by Kosovo Albanians in the UK. She has given numerous talks on identity politics in a globalizing world and representations of refugees and ethnic minority audiences.

Dr Simon Goodman is a Research Fellow in psychology at Coventry University. He uses discursive psychology to address a number of issues. Much of this research explores the discursive construction of asylum seekers and refugees in which he has focussed on the ways in which potentially prejudicial arguments against asylum seekers are presented as reasonable and non-prejudicial. In addition, his work focuses on what is, and what is not, considered to be racist particularly with regard to asylum seeking. His research also explores the (largely negative) experiences of asylum seekers in the UK and the ways in which they make complaints and resist their negative presentations.

Guled Ibrahim has rapidly earned himself several university degrees .. BA from the University of Minnesota, Jurist Doctor from Mitchel Hamline Law School, and international MBA from BPP Business School in London. His personal drive in the field of public service and conflict resolutions is equally admirable. He has been selected to participate in the International Criminal Court’s Assembly of States Conference in Hague in 2015, as well as the One Young World Summit in Ottawa in 2016. Besides, his activities have already taken him to many countries across the globe.

Organiser: Kayd Somali Arts & Culture

Contact email: info@kayd.org

Sponsor: Centre for Migration and Diaspora Studies