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Paper short abstract:

This paper presents some narratives and self-reflections of Somali migrant women in Nairobi and Johannesburg in order to point out some conceptual notes about women´s vocabularies on describing themselves, their experiences and their identities in a context of displacement.

Paper long abstract:

This presentation is based on part of my research for the book Cosmopolitan Refugees. Somali Migrant women in Nairobi and Johannesburg, that analyses Somali migrant women diasporic experiences in two African global hubs.

The paper uses empirical data in the form of Somali migrant women self-narratives, to point out some conceptual notes about women´s vocabularies on describing themselves, their experiences and their hyphenated identities.

Drawing from interviews with fifty Somali women and conversations carried during fieldwork in both cities, in this paper I present some of women´s reflections and experiences on what it means to be a Somali woman on the move in two diasporic urban contexts from the Global South. Based on women's self-narratives, the paper reflects on how they defined their own identities using particular terminology, the relation the had to some cultural and religious practices and how in the process of doing so, they became vernacular theorist. The paper also explores how women navigate the power relations that they experience as African, Muslim women on the move, in order to fulfill their desires and aspirations about their futures.

This paper aims to contribute to generate knowledge production from a Global South perspective, based on first hand accounts on the migration experiences of Somali women on the move in two main African metropolosis.