Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the Covid-19 pandemic as a shared – if uneven – context, and the implications for Somali diaspora humanitarianism. Based on collective, multi-sited fieldwork, we examine caregiving relations and emergency relief as well as conceptualizations and relativisation of crises.

Paper long abstract:

During times of crisis, Somali diaspora groups have become a crucial lifeline for their kin in the Horn of Africa, as they respond more quickly and access places considered too dangerous or remote by the formal humanitarian system. In the case of the Covid-19 pandemic, however, such emergency relief was challenged as diaspora groups living in Europe and North America recorded high rates of fatalities and experienced significant loss of employment and income, while Covid-19’s impact within the Somali territories was less disastrous than initially feared.

In this paper, we explore what happens when a particular crisis becomes a shared – if uneven – context, such as the Covid-19 pandemic. Does this disrupt pre-existing caregiving relations between diaspora and homeland? And what are the implications for conceptualizations of global crises and the future of diaspora humanitarianism? Based on collective multi-sited fieldwork across multiple localities in the Horn of Africa, Europe and elsewhere in the world, we show that within the global Somali community, the nature, scale and impact of Covid-19 has been contested in a manner that calls into question the concept of the pandemic as singular, shared crisis. We show that responses display both elements of continuity and change with previous crises, but in general have been less organized and more individualized. We argue that these responses are explained by the contested conceptualization of Covid-19 as a crisis, and the ways in which Covid-19 is at times both compounded and relativized by previous historical crises faced by Somali communities.