Somali Clans, Castes, & Ethnic Groups: Social Organisation and Psychological Motivations.

Somali Clans, Castes, & Ethnic Groups: Social Organisation and Psychological Motivations.

If you are reading this, then likely, you are trying to understand who the victims are, who the perpetrators are, and why or how both come to be in the land of the Somali people. Without such an understanding, it is difficult to decide on questions of need and claims of asylum from loss of human rights, violence, torture, and death. This section is most important to western officials of governance and humanitarian oversight given that the social organisation and psychological motivations of constructed societies that have adapted to intrusive globalisation are quite different from the societies that asylum seekers are fleeing from. The UN supported Somali National Government in Mogadishu is organised, trained, and mentored by mostly western nations seeking an end to the (seemingly) never ending violence that ensured post-colonial independence.

We refer to this Somali government in Mogadishu as the ‘Front Office’ of Somali that faces the globalised developed world. Its employees are by and large, educated in London, New York, Paris, and Rome. They are more comfortable in a suit than a robe, a chair rather than a floor, and an airconditioned office rather than a tent or mud-brick hut. These employees live in western style compounds guarded by the Somali National Army, as do, the officers which are also part of this westernised collective, educated in Europe and the Americas. This collective can be thought of as the seeds of a future Somalia, if their nation survives, and if they survive their nation. So, what is the problem? The problem is that the ‘Front Office’ in Somalia is about as disconnected from the ‘Back Office’ of Somali society as they can be. The ‘front office’ of Somali governance possesses a social organisation and psychological structure that is modern and globalised in its nature. The rest of Somali society possesses a social organisation and psychological structure that is inscrutable to the front office governance that purports to speak for them. This separation is why the ongoing conflict in Somalia has become intractable and why violent extremist organisations plying their psychological warfare have not, and will not be, defeated anytime in the foreseeable future. The graphic aid in Figure 5 offers a picture of how the Somali ‘front office’ and the rest of Somali society operate in separate realities. The Somali National Government in Mogadishu and most all of UK society operate in a psychosocial organisation of egocentricity or individual agency. The remainder of Somali society and the most rural of UK farmers, operate in a sociocentric or collectivist psychosocial reality. Both psychosocial organisations are normal. Naturally occurring for specific reasons that are beyond the scope of this report. But they are usually in conflict and in a state of non-overlapping translation.

A modern European government of the 21^st Century would likely not survive long if it were governing a nation in the 16^th Century, as the two realities would not tolerate each other. Individuals and groups arrive on western shores seeking asylum with narratives that are often inscrutable to the western employees of our security, justice, immigration, and defense services. For those fleeing into exile from Somalia, their narrative can be especially inscrutable, especially the social organisation they are describing in relation to their motivations for fleeing. As well, those fleeing from these Sociocentric or collectivist societies to safety in the egocentric or individualist societies in Europe and North America, describe family, clan, and tribal interactions that appear to us to be at odds with our reality. Whether the person being interviewed is a combatant or a victim seeking asylum refuge, without an understanding of the psychosocial dynamics in Figure 5, we will normatively ascribe to their narrative misinformation and suspicion of untruthfulness.

The psychosocial reality of Somali life is intensely sociocentric and intricately based on the concept of “Tol” or patrilineal generational belonging. In fact, the Somali language does not have words for 'clan' and 'lineage', so ubiquitous and normal is this structure of how people fit in together in life. When families are healthy, Somali life is brilliant and secure, with each member tied to a mythical common ancestor in thick boundaries of belonging. When families are damaged or destroyed, the possibilities for survival of members decreases exponentially, especially for the vulnerable women and children and those groups 'outside' the clan framework of Somali life.  The framework of Somali life is divided between the dominant pastoral nomadic (cattle and camel) and subordinate sedentary (farming, fishing, trading, and manufacturing. Nobility in clans is only afforded to nomadic pastoralism that follows the psychosocial construction of the Bedouin Abbala (camel) and Baggara (cattle) tribes. The major pastoral nomadic clans are the Darod Clan (green colour), Hawiye Clan (pink colour), Isaaq Clan (beige colour) and Dir Clan (Light green colour). All four of these clans can be further divided into sub-clans, as shown on the map in Figure 6.

The major sedentary clans are the Rahanweyn in the colour yellow, with the Mirifle Clan and Digil Clan forming most of this group. These clans are further divided into sub-clans like their nomadic counterparts. Each of the ‘Noble Clans’ (Rahanweyn, Darood, Isaaq, Dir, and Hawiye) consist of numerous subclans as illustrated in Figure 6 and are the building blocks of the sociological order of the community.