Overview

Since 2003, photographer Abdi Roble and writer Doug Rutledge have been documenting the lives of Somali immigrants in the United States and of the people forced into the vast refugee camps that were set up in Kenya in the wake of the 1991 civil war in Somalia. The Somali Diaspora follows the family of Abdisalem, his wife Ijabo, and their three daughters as they struggle to survive in Dadaab before being relocated first to Anaheim, California, where they barely make ends meet, and then to Portland, Maine.

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9780816654574

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Reviews

Opening The Somali Diaspora is like finding a hidden doorway into the lives and experiences of Somali immigrants to the United States. This book will serve to give us all a deeper sense of connection to anyone whom we may come to call neighbor and fellow citizen. Omar Jamal, executive director, Somali Justice Advocacy Center

Having traveled many of the steps of the Somali diaspora, Abdi Roble always photographs what he knows and cares deeply about, making these photographs as much autobiography as photojournalistic narrative. The Somali Diaspora deftly chronicles the almost irreconcilably odd collision of cultures that emerges out of relocation, but with hope and sympathy throughout. It also performs the important job of making Minnesotans, and Americans at large, look at and take stock of the society we've created that they seek as refuge. --George Slade, artistic director, Minnesota Center for Photography

Author Information

Doug Rutledge is a poet, playwright, and independent scholar of the English language and literature. He regularly contributes to Hiiraan Online, Somali Link, and The African Voice-Ireland and is the writer for the Somali Documentary Project. He lives in Columbus, Ohio.

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