Convenors:
Jamal Abdi, Keele University, Staffordshire, UK
Mohamed Muse, Leiden University, The Hague, Netherlands m.a.muse@fgga.leidenuniv.nl
Abdirashid Ahmed, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Abstract
Narratives concerning the African continent are often less about representing reality and more about constructing “worlds” of lack, deviance, and danger. This stream examines the transnational production of dehumanising tropes, specifically focusing on Somali society and the broader Horn of Africa. We argue that the narratives surrounding these regions constitute a form of “epistemic injustice,” where complex social and political lifeworlds are reduced to a global shorthand for malfunction.
From the racialised pseudo-science of the global far-right to the scholarly designation of Somalia as the “archetypal failed state,” and the humanitarian use of “Mogadishu-fication” as a cautionary metaphor for Gaza, these stories do more than misrepresent; they structure policy and justify exclusion. This stream explores how these narratives mirror other continental stigmas to create a hierarchy of human value that justifies “security” interventions and racialised policies.
Drawing on multidisciplinary perspectives from History, Politics, and Anthropology, we aim to challenge prevailing narratives about the Horn of Africa. We invite multidisciplinary contributions addressing themes including, but not limited to:
- The Racialization of Diasporas: How Horn of Africa communities in the Global North navigate and resist external stigmas.
- Critiques of Governance Metrics: Investigating “State Fragility” and “failed state” labels as forms of epistemic violence.
- Sovereignty, Extraterritoriality, and the “Legal Vacuum”: How narratives of disorder are weaponised to justify maritime interventions and zones of legal exception.
