Flicker, SarahMire, Hawa Yahia2018-07-172018-07-172017Major Paper, Master of Environmental Studies, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York Universityhttp://hdl.handle.net/10315/34823This Major Research Paper (MRP) explores Somali origin myths as a site through which to track the formation, maintenance and transmission of power. It places into conversation colonial anthropological texts and Somali oral stories to examine a contemporary Somali diaspora's response to the Madhibaan, a qabil (clan) with limited socio-economic power. Throughout the analysis, I ask: Where do Madhibaan Somali women appear? When do they materialize? Why do they show up? What does this absence/presence make possible? I bring together several scholarly communities and conversations in this MRP which include: critical African/Black feminisms; critical race theory; post coloniality; oral histories; Somali studies; and decolonial knowledge production. It is my hope that I will make valuable methodological and theoretical contributions to the field of Somali Studies in particular on scholarship that includes Madhibaan Somalis as well as Somali orality.enAuthor owns copyright, except where explicitly noted. Please contact the author directly with licensing requests.Major Paper2018-07-17MadhibaanSomaliGenderOralityStorytellingMinority CasteDecolonial Knowledge ProductionMemoryImaginariesMeaning-making