Somali Day. Culture and politics through the lens of Somali literature and orature
This event will take place online. Registrees will receive a link a few days before the start of the event. On 1 July 1960 Somalia became an independent state. In the framework of 'Africa 2020', the ASCL, its Library and LeidenASA will pay attention to this complex region of the Horn of Africa, praised for its (oral) literature, marked by its civil war and voiced by its diaspora. During the 'Somali Day' on 29 June, the country will be addressed from a historical-cultural perspective by reconsidering Somali culture and governance through the lens of its literature and diaspora.
The organisers take and support the view on literature considered as “the best way to transform consciousness, the way through which you can get access into others people lives” (Ahmed Jimale Ahmed in an interview by Sampsonia Way, April 18, 2018). This insight is just one among a handful raised by plenty of other scholars, thinkers and writers who have made Somali poetry, fiction and history resonate in wider circles (to name but a few, Nuruddin Farah, Ioan Lewis, Bogumil Andrzejewski, Martin Orwin, Fiona Moolla). Their views allow us to interpret Somalia from the inside and outside, within the frame of the themes, Click here to register for this event.
