Obliged to Give: Remittances and the Maintenance of Transnational Networks Between Somalis ’At Home’ and Abroad

Seventeenth Session of The Complex Dynamics of International Migration Interdisciplinary Seminar on the Conceptualization of the Migration Phenomenon

2005 2006 Scientific Seminar of the Canada Research Chair on International Migration Law

Remittances sent from the Somali Diaspora to Somalia are estimated to total $1 billion every year, making Somalia more dependent upon remittances than any other country in the world (Ismael: 2006).
This paper will consider the impetus for sending remittances, the challenges that Somalis in the Diaspora face in supporting their relatives, and the role that remittances play not only in promoting development at home, but also in maintaining transnational kinship ties and social networks.
Remittances are given not only because they provide essential support to individuals and communities inside Somalia, but also because they help senders to fulfill their obligations as members of the family, clan and community.
Based on interviews conducted in Lewiston, Maine, London, and Somaliland, the paper argues that remittances are important for reducing vulnerability caused by conflict, drought and market volatility as well as for providing Somalis living abroad the opportunity to continue to be active participants in their transnational communities.

Dr. Laura Hammond is Lecturer in the Department of International and Rural Development at the University of Reading. She is a social anthropologist with extensive experience working in the Horn of Africa. She has worked as a consultant in Ethiopia, Somalia, Somaliland and Kenya for UN agencies, NGOs and donor organisations. She is the author of This Place Will Become Home: Refugee Repatriation to Ethiopia (Cornell University Press: 2004). From 2001-2005 she taught at Clark University; while there, she conducted research with the Somali community in Lewiston, Maine.

The conference will be given in English.