We Do Not Have Borders
NEW AFRICAN HISTORIES
SERIES EDITORS: JEAN ALLMAN, ALLEN ISAACMAN, AND DEREK R. PETERSON
Books in this series are published with support from the Ohio University Center for International Studies.
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Keren Weitzberg, We Do Not Have Borders
We Do Not Have Borders
Greater Somalia and the Predicaments of Belonging in Kenya
Keren Weitzberg
OHIO UNIVERSITY PRESS
ATHENS
Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio 45701
© 2017 by Ohio University Press
All rights reserved
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Sections of this book have appeared in the Journal of African History, the Journal of Northeast African Studies, and the book Kenya after Fifty: Reconfiguring Historical, Political, and Policy Milestones.
All the maps in this book were made by Jacob Riley.
Printed in the United States of America
Ohio University Press books are printed on acid-free paper.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Weitzberg, Keren, author.
Title: We do not have borders : greater Somalia and the predicaments of belonging in Kenya / Keren Weitzberg.
Other titles: New African histories series.
Description: Athens : Ohio University Press, 2017. | Series: New African histories | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017018265 | ISBN 9780821422588 (hc : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780821422595 (pb : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780821445952 (pdf)
Subjects: LCSH: Somali diaspora. | Somalis—Kenya. | Nationalism—Kenya. | Kenya--Ethnic relations—History.
Classification: LCC DT433.545.S75 W45 2017 | DDC 305.8935406762—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017018265
Contents
Introduction. “We Don’t Unpack”
Chapter 1. “Carrying the History of the Prophets”
Chapter 2. “Kenya Is Regarded by the Somali as an El Dorado”
Chapter 3. “The Goodness of the Past Is Gone”
Chapter 4. “The Fattened She-Camel Has Been Snatched by the Hyena”
Chapter 5. “If We Were Brothers, We Would Have Met Long Ago”
Chapter 6. “Their People Came Here to Seek Asylum”
Chapter 7. “People Will One Day Say Our Children Aren’t Kenyan”
Conclusion. “We Are Not Migrants; We Are Living in Our Ancestral Land”