ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on young Somali women who are rejecting or struggling with what it means to be Somali and are hence pushing the boundaries of Soomaalinimo. The exclusionary nature of hegemonic notions of Somaliness was also raised in a discussion on the ‘Boundaries of Soomaalinimo ’ in a Mandeeq podcast from late 2015, chaired by the writer Hawa Mire and involving several other young scholars. Like the Somali-demics, she was not only seeking to expand the definition of Soomaalinimo but was also opting to transcend the category altogether. The Muted Cry play, the Niiko dancing incident, and the Miss Somali event all raise a set of queries around young women’s engagements with culture, the relationship between culture, religion, and modernity, and the delimiting of the boundaries of Soomaalinimo. Culture has become increasingly objectified, and being Somali is treated as a set of elements not only to recognize within the self but also to externalize as an identity.
