Migration and Racial Formations Among Somali Immigrants in North America

Using qualitative research methods, this project focuses on the disjuncture between how one set of black immigrants, Somalis, understand blackness in their homelands and how it is defined in North America. The findings reveal the problematics of racial categories and confirm the situational nature of racial identities. The results of this study are not substantially confined to African immigrants alone, but carry both theoretical and conceptual significance for the development, maintenance and consequences of racial formations in North America.