In Daughters of Arraweelo, Somali women share experiences of love, war, family, displacement, identity, and everyday life. After a civil war broke out in Somalia in 1991, thousands of people fled the country, seeking asylum all over the world. Many Somali women were charged with the responsibility of finding safe passage and a new home. The largest numbers in this diaspora settled in Minnesota.
In spite of many obstacles, Somali women have gone on to build new communities and become business owners, authors, scholars, activists and organizers, elected officials, and change makers. Unfortunately, their rich stories are often reduced to accounts of devastation and trauma, or tokenized, or considered as exceptional. Rarely are these women presented with the multi-layered humanity they deserve. This book celebrates their complicated stories and deliberately disrupts the conventional narrative.
Arraweelo, an ancient queen of the Somali people, was known for her fierce leadership and her work to empower women. Her daughters are with us today.