The author of this excellent primer on Somali culture, history and society is indubitably one of the leading authorities on the subject, having been researching, writing about and generally engaged in things Somali since the mid-1950s. The remarkable depth and breadth of Lewis's scholarship ensures that this small volume serves its purpose admirably: a mere 139 pages, it offers a concise, authoritative, opinionated and very readable introduction to an enormously complex subject.
The Somali territories of the Horn of Africa are frequently represented as an almost unmitigated political and humanitarian disaster, the most complete and enduring example of the contemporary failed state, and “an attractive location for international terrorists” (Country Reports on Terrorism, 2008, US Department of State, Washington DC). As ever, there are elements of truth in these analyses, but the importance of a text such as this lies in the author's ability to expose the danger in superficial and poorly informed views through a sober and supremely knowledgeable yet easily digestible analysis. Indeed, Lewis pulls no punches in his description of the ways in which poorly formulated international policy and action has frequently achieved precisely the opposite result to that intended. He rightly excoriates outsiders for their role in effectively empowering militant Islamism in the southern parts of Somalia through ham-fisted attempts to emasculate it. Importantly, though, he is also clear in outlining the many successes that have been achieved in local-level peace-building, most particularly in the state-building efforts of Somaliland.
There have already been several editions of this introductory guide, the first written in 1978 for USAID. At that stage the autocratic Somali leader of the time, General Mohamed Siyaad Barre, had embarked on what amounted to an invasion of the Somali region of Ethiopia; a military adventure which met with rapid initial success, swiftly followed by disastrous defeat. Over the years, new versions have plotted civil war and the fall of the Siyaad Barre government; insurgency, counter-insurgency and famine; the rise of autonomous administrative regions such as Puntland and the self-declared Republic of Somaliland; and successive failed external efforts to broker a lasting peace. In the process, Lewis's own position has shifted notably towards outspoken support for the achievements and sovereign claims of those in Somaliland – a support which he backs with a well-argued case for the indigenous nature of the state-building processes that have occurred there, as well as his pertinent observation that “the pan-Somali ideal [is] founded in cultural identity rather than political unity” (p. 76).
The final 30 pages of the latest version are almost completely new, covering events that have occurred since the 1993 edition. That period has been at least as eventful as others, starting as it did with the infamous “Black Hawk Down” incident and the Battle of Mogadishu, and also the seminal Boorama conference in Somaliland. These chapters are notably more impassioned in style, and it is here, and in the new Preface, that Lewis delivers both his most trenchant criticism of external interventions and his most strident calls for Somaliland's achievements to be explicitly acknowledged and supported. This position will doubtless antagonize some, but it is difficult indeed to argue that it is either illogical or impractical. Indeed, Lewis's knowledge of Somali socio-political organization, culture and history lends such weight to his criticisms that the frankness of his suggested alternatives is both refreshing and welcome. Most particularly, his call for international intervention to focus on arms control and humanitarian assistance (p. xi), while offering support (but not leadership) to indigenous initiatives such as those of Somaliland and Puntland, is based on compelling evidence.
Some commentators have opined that Lewis's approach adheres too closely to that of his academic discipline, anthropology. On that reading, Lewis tends to present kinship relations as deterministic and dominant, in contrast to actual practice. There is some validity in this complaint, though rather more with respect to Euro-centric approaches to anthropology in general, than the work of Lewis himself. In fact, while some sections of the book do tend to give the impression that clan affiliation is fixed at all levels (for example, his description of lineages based on the Irir and Dir groups, over which there is in fact considerable dispute amongst Somalis), he is at pains to note that “clan politics … has never been characterized by hard and fast alliances” (p. 77). This is not primarily a deficiency in this text; rather something to be remembered as readers develop an understanding of the complexities of Somali society. A related criticism is the author's unwillingness to blame the British administration for the lack of colonial-era development in areas such as education. He notes only that “attempts were made to expand education” (p. 30), which ultimately failed as a result of violent opposition from a conservative populace. While that is superficially true, the reality is that the British made only derisory efforts to educate Somalis, to involve them at an administrative level or, as independence loomed, to acknowledge its inevitability and to take steps to prepare for it. While it has become a rather hackneyed truism to blame colonialism for contemporary African ills, it is nevertheless important to acknowledge its effects. While Somalilanders have been able to build on social traditions that were left relatively intact, that situation arose as a result of British unwillingness to invest in the region rather than from any enlightened commitment to indigenous welfare, undermined by local conservatism. Again, though, this is a passing comment rather than a fundamental criticism of this publication. Lewis has long been and remains an authority on Somali culture, an avid follower of events, and a sympathetic voice with a genuine love for the people he has so long written about.
This book provides an excellent introduction for anyone wishing to gain an insight into the richness and complexity of Somali society, and Lewis's recommendations are challenging, insightful and sensible.
