Somali scholar who critiqued the Barre regime's rhetoric against its reality
His 1988 Socialist Somalia: Rhetoric and Reality diagnoses the widening gap between the Barre regime's rhetoric and realities and is cited as the standard scholarly critique of that era; it is the source of the 'internal militarism and external supplication' framing.
A Somali scholar and writer, he is the James Wallace Professor of International Studies at Macalester College and was founding dean of its Institute for Global Citizenship. He is founding editor-in-chief of Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies and the brother of scholar Abdi Ismail Samatar. Educated at the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse (B.A., 1978) and the University of Denver (M.A. 1981, PhD 1984), he taught about ten years at St. Lawrence University before moving to Macalester in 1994. His 1988 book Socialist Somalia: Rhetoric and Reality criticized the gap between the Barre military regime's claims and its actual record, and remains cited as the standard scholarly critique of that regime. The book's own formulation of a 'deeper slippage into internal militarism and external supplication' in mid-1980s Somalia is attributed to it rather than asserted as neutral fact.
Career Timeline
- 1978Graduated from the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse
- 1978–1984M.A. and PhD at the University of Denver
- 1984–1994경Taught about ten years at St. Lawrence University
- 1988Published Socialist Somalia: Rhetoric and Reality
- 1994–James Wallace Professor of International Studies, Macalester College