Soomaaliniimo after Tahriib: The Predicament of Belonging and Community-Making of Young Somalis in Italy

The young, predominantly male, Somalis who since the early 2010s arrived in Italy declare their belonging to a cultural and moral ecumene which they call soomaaliniimo. They ascribe their belonging to genealogical as well as to moral criteria which they claim are inherited by virtue of geographical and familial origin. However, the undocumented journey from the Horn of Africa to Europe, usually across Libya, which they travelled during this period (tahriib) poses specific challenges to their belonging in relation to the deep and heterogeneous historicity of Somali migrations: the individualization of mobility trajectories, the profound emotional and material impact of their journeys onto their family-based networks of solidarity (caused by the inter-related consolidation of human trafficking networks and the European migration regime), the social networking, legal and economic challenges they meet in large urban environments such as Milan. Once in Italy, they often experience a protracted disillusion in seeking help from other Somalis, the self-constrained attitude towards information sharing, and the precarious relationship with previous generations of migrants. In this context, young migrants interrogate themselves about violations of inherited cultural values or the chimera of what they consider a fundamental institution of diasporic soomaaliniimo, namely the construction of a “community”, which they usually translate as jaliyaad. These dynamics are presented and discussed on the basis of ethnographic material collected during prolonged research activities conducted since the early 2010s both in the Somali territories and the diasporas, and during an ongoing research project that started in 2022 in Milan.