From 23rd to 25th July, the University of Hargeisa and the Redsea Cultural Foundation will co-host the 13th Congress of the Somali Studies International Association. Celebrating its 40th anniversary and being held in Hargeysa, Somaliland, this year’s Congress will mark only the 4th time that it has been held on Somali soil. The last time it was held as such was in 2001 in Hargeysa and in 2007 Djibouti was a co-host. Poignantly, this year’s Congress will be held in conjunction with the annual Hargeysa International Book Fair, the biggest literary festival in East Africa which will enable Somali Studies to reconnect with contemporary realities on the ground.
The Congress will engage with key areas of interest by way of academic papers submitted by scholars and aims to connect Somali scholars with international academic networks. Thus, helping to bridge the gap between Somali scholars and academia as well as providing a space for a Somali narrative, more broadly. The Congress places great emphasis on encouraging young Somali scholars in particular to be more active and to feel ownership of their scholarly contributions, which is an aim that is vastly enhanced by its periodic holding in the Somali region.
This year’s Congress is being hosted in collaboration with local research and higher education institutions in Somaliland, including the University of Hargeisa, Amoud University, Nugaal University, University of Burao, Frantz Fanon University and the Edna Adan University Hospital.
Equally, regional institutions from the Somali-speaking world will also be collaborating, including the University of Djibouti, Jigjiga University, Puntland State University, and Mogadishu University. Contributions to the Congress will be further enhanced by the partnering of the international universities, Oriental University of Naples, University College London (UCL), the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and the University of Gothenburg. It is with great pleasure that this 13th Congress will honour the legacy of the great Somali scholar, Dr. Hussein Mohamed Adan, more commonly known as Dr. Hussein ‘Tanzania’, who passed away last year. An accomplished scholar with a PhD from Harvard University, he was also an Associate Professor of Political Science at the College of the Holy Cross. He authored many renowned books Page 1 of 2 which garnered him several awards and fellowships, equally, he was well known for his acclaimed 1980 documentary, ‘Limit to Submission’.
However, he was most known as the founder of the Somali Studies International Association, an organisation dedicated to the cultural, historical and contemporary Somali issues, an aim that he lived by till the very end.
The programme for the congress is available on the Congress website at http://somalistudies.org/ If you have any queries regarding the SSIA or the 2018 Congress, please contact us as follows: Email: ssia2018@somalistudies.org Twitter: @Somali_Studies & @HargeysaCC