Somali diaspora in Canada post 9/11: Challenges and Prospects

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore Somali diaspora in Canada post-9/11, in order to understand their challenges and prospects. The event of 9/11 contributed to the exclusion and disenfranchisement of the Muslims in the Western world based on Islamophobic views. The Somali diaspora are fairly newcomer to the Western world, the majority of which came as refugees in the past two to three decades. Like most newcomers they faced discrimination based on their race, skin colour and religion. They also endured Islamophobia like other Muslims in the Western countries, which is mainly due to ignorance and intensified by the discourse which associates all Muslims to extremists and fanatics. While research of the Muslim communities’ experiences around the world post-9/11 has been researched extensively, limited research has been conducted on this diasporic community experiences after the events of 9/11 in Canada. Therefore, Seven Somali Canadians who acknowledged experiences as results of the events of 9/11and who were willing to share their experiences were selected for in-depth interviews. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and constant comparative analyses were applied. The findings of the research indicate that the participants endured both racial discrimination and Islamophobia. The information will be useful to anyone interested in learning about the true experiences of the Somali diaspora within Canadian society post-9/11. More specifically this study will contribute to the ongoing effort to understand the effect of Islamophobia in Canada in order to combat systematic racial discrimination within the Canadian Society. Somalis sociocultural background has no resemblance to that of the Canadian sociocultural traits. Somalis sociocultural background is homogenous one, in terms of ethnicity, religiosity, and linguistically. Somali diaspora confronted three main challenges against them within Canada 1) being a newcomer to /refugee within Canada, 2) being Muslim, and 3) being black. These challenges prompted the Somali diaspora in Canada to be profiled on multiple levels including race and religion. Identity conflict takes place when one sees two sides of their identity as being equally exclusive, or in clash with each other. Identity conflict among Muslim immigrant and refugees is usually exacerbated by the extent to which religious identity is linked to ethnic identity. Somalis' identity is described more in terms of nationality and religion than of a race because Islam has impacted the identity of Somalis deeply. Therefore, the Somali community went through identity conflict in Canada. The implication of this study revolves around two points, one is in the field of social work and the other is the contribution to the ongoing public discourse on the impact of Islamophobia in Canada. The first implication is in the field of social work; social workers to recognize and confirm the losses and hostile experiences faced by the Somali Muslim community upon their arrival and post-9/11 in Canada. The second implication is to contribute to the literature on the impact of Islamophobia in Canada. The findings from this research will contribute to the ongoing effort to understand and combat the impact of Islamophobia in Canada.