[BRIEF NOTE] The Somali diaspora and its world
Jonathan Edelstein's summary of the development of the Somali diaspora ("Fortunes of war: the creation of a Somali merchant diaspora") brings to my mind Kenyan scholar Ali Mazrui's contention in his 1986 The Africans: A Triple Heritage that there was no reason not to classify the Arabian peninsula as part of the African continent, perhaps not even on geological grounds but certainly not on human grounds. Perhaps more than any other African people, the Somalis are intimately connected to the cultural realms of both Arabia and Africa: Dubai, Nairobi, Cape Town, Cairo ... As Jonathan suggests, hopefully these numerous networks will help the diaspora's homeland recover from its recent devastation. Hopefully; new traumas may yet occur.