How tribalism is being used to undermine our shared ethnicity.

[Angelina]

I won’t post the TikTok since I don’t want the girl to be trolled or mistreated. So I was scrolling through TikTok and I saw something that mildly irritated me. I saw a Banadiri girl saying that Somali is a fake ethnicity that only came about via colonialism. Unfortunately, I’ve been seeing some ethnic Somalis co-signing it via hatred of their fellow Somalis especially the ones that want independence. She tried to say we had various different haplogroups saying T and EV-whatever I don’t care for haplogroups but that clearly isn’t the case since we only seem to have two different haplogroups and even then we are probably the most homogeneous ethnic group on earth. Our autosomal is incredibly connected.

It’s crazy how uneducated Somalis are of our history. The Somalis were a nation before we were ever a state and that’s apparent even when foreigners came to our shores decades before colonialism. Why did Burton call us the Somalis well before 1880? Why did the people he meet call themselves Somalis well before we ever became a country or a state?

I have no issues with our Banadiri mixed brothers and sisters. They have contributed a lot to the Southern Somali coast, but undermining our ethnicity and trying to play divide and conquer isn’t doing them any favors.

I say this not out of frustration towards that community since they are a small minority and on average lovely people, but the fact that Somali tribalism has led to this discourse and due to Siyad’s Barre’s regime over emphasizing our Nomadic roots and not the traders amongst us or the city dwellers. Also ignorance plays a big role. I have older relatives who are of an ethnic Somali background saying ‘no one knows where Somalis come from we could be of different origins’ or the boomers who’ve been fed a steady diet of how all Af Maxaa tiri Somalis were just desert dwelling nomads in the interior so now they too stupidly believe that Xamar was ruled by Banadiris.

 

[wonyluvr]

Whats her @ though

 

[Chaseyourdreamzz]

I think I’ve seen the tiktoker your talking about I saw a comment on a tiktok saying there’s no such thing as ethnic Somalis some serious psyops at play online

 

[wonyluvr]

I think I’ve seen the tiktoker your talking about I saw a comment on a tiktok saying there’s no such thing as ethnic Somalis some serious psyops at play online

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[Angelina]

Whats her @ though

Sorry sis, I don’t feel comfortable sending it. I’d feel responsible if some of the crazies on here started to attack her and I know many lurk and will then seek her out.

 

[wonyluvr]

Sorry sis, I don’t feel comfortable sending it. I’d feel responsible if some of the crazies on here started to attack her and I know many lurk and will then seek her out.

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[El Nino]

Banadiris got targeted during the war due to being powerless and the crimes were justified by them being foreigners. After this they have developed this mindset of denying their somali heritage. However, deep down they know they are somalis and just can’t get rid of their dhaqan. They have assimilated far too much to claim any other identity except the one they have had for centuries.

Its understandable for them but its more heinous among ethnic somalis.

”Isku dhaqan manihin”, ” Somaalinimo aan ka baxney” are common phrases you see on tiktok.

All of this stems from the civil war and its consequinces. The nation has become fragmented more then ever before.

 

[Chaseyourdreamzz]

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[Angelina]

Just slight musing. I think for me above all, people need to understand that Somalis are an ethnicity first and foremost. Although I.M Lewis was incredibly problematic, there ia fantastic quote which sums up the Somali people:


“The Somali possess a remarkably strong sense of ethnic identity, which unites them culturally and linguistically, even as their political loyalties are divided by clan.”
– I.M. Lewis, "A Pastoral Democracy"

We have probably the strongest ethnic ties and are set apart from other African nations since on average, they’re made of different ethnicities forced into a nationhood via statehood, but the Somalis are different as also noted by Lewis:

“The Somali possess a remarkably strong sense of ethnic identity, which unites them culturally and linguistically, even as their political loyalties are divided by clan.”
– I.M. Lewis, "A Pastoral Democracy"

Point being unlike others- we were a nation well before statehood despite our political motives being different or clan skirmishes. Our biggest struggle as an ethnic group is statehood. Can we all live under one state, professing to be of the same country? That I don’t know which is why the idea of Somaliland, Djibouti or even a Puntland doesn’t actually bother me, but dividing us via ethnic lines does. Simply because it erases our history as a people.

The fact that this is being questioned in 2025 and with even ethnic Somalis being confused shows we really haven’t done a good job and we have allowed deep political disputes to mar this.

A man in Djibouti who is Issa might not have the same political motives as a Hawiye in Hiran, or a Marehan in Jubba but we are one ethnicity that transcends statehood and modern day nationalism.

 

[wonyluvr]

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[Chaseyourdreamzz]

Once Somali history starts to get uncovered more with Somali archaeologists and excavations in major historical port cities everything will be put to rest I blame ignorant older Somalis as well for attributing so much to foreigners

 

[Angelina]

Banadiris got targeted during the war due to being powerless and the crimes were justified by them being foreigners. After this they have developed this mindset of denying their somali heritage.

They can deny their Somali heritage as much as they want. I’m not in the field of telling mixed populations what they feel they should identify as, but they can’t drag actual fully ethnic Somalis into the mix and say we have diverse origins and that the very term ‘Somali’ is colonial. It’s asinine.

However, deep down they know they are somalis and just can’t get rid of their dhaqan. They have assimilated far too much to claim any other identity except the one they have had for centuries.

Its understandable for them but its more heinous among ethnic somalis.

”Isku dhaqan manihin”, ” Somaalinimo aan ka baxney” are common phrases you see on tiktok.

All of this stems from the civil war and its consequinces. The nation has become fragmented more then ever before.

I think it’s because of deep ignorance and a lack of pride in our history. Let’s be honest, since when were Somalis ever politically aligned? Many of our great great great grandfathers were looting each others camels with some being traders and some building cities. However, what our ancestors of old, despite their skirmishes understood is that we were one ethnicity and history illustrates this and so have people who have been to our shores whether it be the 1700s, the 1800s and in the case of I.M Lewis in the 1950s have noted, we are a deeply interconnected peoples that transcends statehood.

 

[Espaa_]

Somalis have a root and this goes for all major clans. Even bantus have minor somali in them and banaadiris have a degree of somali in them.

we are very homogenous and have a commonality between each other.

That banaadiri girl can only speak for herself and her family. They are an amalgamation of south asian, arab, bantu and somali yet they flex their arab side not knowing that majority of their dna can be attributed to gujaratis.

The civil war fucked all of us up. This is just sad to see

 

[wonyluvr]

Somalis have a root and this goes for all major clans. Even bantus have minor somali in them and banaadiris have a degree of somali in them.

we are very homogenous and have a commonality between each other.

That banaadiri girl can only speak for herself and her family. They are an amalgamation of south asian, arab, bantu and somali yet they flex their arab side not knowing that majority of their dna can be attributed to gujaratis.

The civil war fucked all of us up. This is just sad to see

 

[Angelina]

“The people here call themselves Somali.”
– Richard Burton, "First Footsteps in East Africa" (1856)


"The Somali are perhaps the most culturally homogeneous people in Africa."
– I.M. Lewis, "A Pastoral Democracy"

 

[Chaseyourdreamzz]

even neighbouring tribes don’t see eye to eye politically I seen this firsthand back home but we shouldn’t undermine each other in spite of our political differences

 

[Angelina]

I think politics is a dirty game. Somalilanders want to build a state and the way one is able to easily attain that is via common nationhood narrative that builds on the idea of a distinct identity.

For those that believe that they’re doing this due to the trauma of 1991, I believe are mistaken. It’s all because of political desperation. Somalis, very unfortunately looking at our vast history have have robbed, annihilated and displaced each other, but the stakes were different since there wasn’t aspirations of a statehood as we were decentralized pre-colonialism, hence there were no motivations of emphasizing differences.

Someone I know made me laugh. They claimed that the South and North have always been different and she used Adal empire and the Ajuran. She said the North had Adal, but I had to remind her that even under the Adal empire not all Northern clans might have been under it. I also had to tell her modern day Southern clans like the Marehan were mentioned as soldiers who aren’t now part of the Somaliland borders and that Ahmed Gurey himself wasn’t even Isaaq, he was maybe Dir, maybe Darood with many claims of him actually being a Karanle Hawiye. Yet her clan weren’t mentioned AT all. So imagine, a so called Northern empire could have been headed by a Hawiye. How pathetic of an argument to talk about ‘differences’. Why do you think she’s falling for these arguments? Obviously political desperation and due to our abysmal knowledge of Somali history that hasn’t been promoted.

To add, I couldn’t care less if Somaliland becomes independent. If Puntland want to leave, I couldn’t care less as well. But I need these separatists to understand that they’re allowing non ethnic Somalis to undermine our history. When they act like Somalis are a random mismatched groups of different foreign origins you are allowing the idea of Zeila being an Arab project, Xamar being Arab and the ajuran being Arab and the list continues.

 

[Riftvalley]

When you sit with a group of Somalis (especially men, and now increasingly women due to social media, everyone seems to have a take on Somali history). I think this is partly due to our culture being somewhat egalitarian in nature, and you find people from different backgrounds exchanging opinions. People who have studied Deen in Somalia say one of the biggest differences with other countries is how students sometimes interrogate Scholars and aren’t fearful of asking them their reasoning behind adopting certain positions. I have come across Somali khat heads arguing with educated Somalis about “ Somalis come from Moses” or something crazy like that. I avoid getting into discussion about Somali origins with some family members because they are too invested in the Arab origin theory. The cons of being so egalitarian in nature is that every tom, dick and Harry thinks they’re experts on all subjects. It is the same with politics.

come to think of it, Somalis only had about 50 years or so to standardise our written history and attempt to form a cohesive state around the Somalinimo project. I think a lot of good work was done and Somali scholars generally carried out professional research of which was beneficial to the nation at large. I think this gap can be bridged further when Somali scholars who are well versed in DNA, archaeology and other sciences tie things together.



Some minorities groups feel like they were left out of the equation of their contribution to Somali history. When you add that to the civil war, you get mentally ill tribalist folks and attention seekers spreading supremacist narratives and hotep revisionism. I have seen Bantus, Cadcads, and even some Madhibaans, come up with some wacko stuff. Part of the problem is a lack of standardisation of the education system and Most people being unable to access some Arabic works and English studies on Somali linguistics, so they are unable to grasp basic concepts.

As for the concept of a Somali nation, I think we have exhausted this discussion. No point in arguing with folks-who have concepts like “Waqdhicin”, “Shaash” and “todobo bax” in their customs- about the existence of a Somali nation and culture/s. At some point you have to start ignoring bad faith actors especially when it comes from tiktok.

The Somalis also have a many political enemies. Black Zionists……….

 

[sums20]

I had this exact discussion with a lander who tried to actively tell me somali doesn't exist as an ethnicity and that it meant "get milk" and is fake. I had to explain multiple times that we are the same ethnicity regardless of what we were called and are a homogenous society, we have been marrying across clans for generations. Then she tried to accuse me of wanting to claim her history and that we aren't related at all and I told her to shut up you donut I'm a lander too just with common sense then she didn't reply. We are so fractured it's insane how are we denying our own ethnicity it's disgusting and agreeing with a banaadari who doesn't even like us and tries to claim her 0.1% of arab blood instead of her south Asian heritage is insanity but I'm not even suprised sadly

 

[Angelina]

When you sit with a group of Somalis (especially men, and now increasingly women due to social media, everyone seems to have a take on Somali history). I think this is partly due to our culture being somewhat egalitarian in nature, and you find people of backgrounds exchanging opinions. People who have studied Deen in Somalia say one of the biggest differences with other countries is how students sometimes interrogate Scholars and aren’t fearful of asking them their reasoning behind adopting certain positions. I have come across Somali khat heads arguing with educated Somalis about “ Somalis come from Moses” or something crazy like that. I avoid getting into discussions about Somalis origins with some family members because they are too invested in the Arab origin theory. The cons of being so egalitarian in nature is that every tom, dick and Harry thinks they’re experts on all subjects. It is the same with politics.

come to think of it, Somalis only had about 50 years to standardise our written history and attempt to form a cohesive a state around the Somalinimo project. I think a lot of good work was done and Somali scholars generally carried out professional research of which was beneficial to the nation at large. I think this gap can be bridged further when Somalis scholars who are well versed in DNA, archaeology and other sciences tie thinks together.



Some minorities groups feel like they were left out of the equation of their contribution to Somali history. When you add that to the civil war, you get mentally ill tribalist folks and attention seekers spreading supremacist narratives and hotep revisionism. I have seen Bantus, Cadcads, and even some Madhibaans, come up with some wacko stuff. Part of the problem is a lack of standardisation of the education system and Most people being unable to access some Arabic works and English studies on Somali linguistics, so they are unable to grasp basic concepts.

As for the concept of a Somali nation, I think we have exhausted this discussion. No point in arguing with folks-who have concepts like “Waqdhicin”, “Shaash” and “todobo bax” in their customs- about the existence of a Somali nation and culture/s. At some point you have to start ignoring bad faith actors especially when it comes from tiktok.

The Somalis also have a many political enemies. Black Zionists……….

Another issue I mentioned was the over emphasis on pastoralism. We know that the major Maxaa tiri clans had a major culture of pastoralism but that resulted in Barre’s government to not also look into our trade history and the origins of our major cities.

I kid you not, an uncle of mine born in the 50s and a product of the Barre and early post colonial education system said to me that Xamar was built by the Arabs. Why? Because in his mind Somalis are only pastoralists. I was mind boggled and dawned on me, how can we even begin to tackle Banadiris when some of our elders from major tribes believe this as well.