Paper long abstract:

The Hadrami presence in East Africa dates back to the classical era when the East African coast was under the authority of Moka; over the centuries movements between Hadramut and East Africa ensured that social and cultural ties were constantly renewed and reinforced: these links are enduring and perpetual. Today there is a community who have strong ties in both areas: Hadramis in East Africa have "homes" in Hadramut and Swahili in Hadramut have "homes" in Africa. This paper considers the notion of "home" among such mobile people, asking what the idea of "home" means to them. The fact that they are perceived, and perceive themselves, as being "African" in Arabia and "Arab" in Africa suggests that "home" is not a place so much as an idea: "home" is part-past (remembered, reconstituted, imagined), part-part future (desired, constituted, imagined), instantiated in the present as a way of being. Going home is a trajectory that can never be completed: one can only travel towards home. Home is not simply a motivation for travel, but a condition for and an experience of travel.