SOMALI HERITAGE WEEK

Somali Heritage Week, Nov. 18-21 2015 @ the National Museum of Kenya

Dates: Date: 18 to 21 November, 2015
Venue: National Museum of Kenya
Time: from 9 am
Entrance: Free for all audiences

Experience an exciting and informative program of talk, music, dance, art, storytelling and much more as we celebrate the contributions of the Somali people to the beauty and cultural richness of Kenya.

Featuring some of the best known thinkers, writers, performers and live entertainment stages, the Somali Heritage Week will showcase the best of Somali culture from Kenya and the region on the theme “Identity: What does it mean to be Somali in Kenya?” The goal of this event is to create a place where Somali people and lovers of culture can come together to celebrate the community, to engage with the challenges facing the community, to sustain traditions and to provide a learning opportunity for those outside the culture.

The central site for the Heritage Week is the National Museum of Kenya, Museum Hill in Nairobi, Kenya, although a parallel youth programme will happen in at Awjaama Omar in Eastleigh and at PAWA 254 in Milimani.

http://calendar.boell.de/en/event/somali-heritage-week

Background

The project assumes that sharing information is a critical way to build trust. While it might not address all the systematic issues that have complicated the Somali people’s situation in Kenya, it hopes to at least start the long process of changing perceptions by taking information directly to the Kenyan people.

The project proposes a Somali heritage week, a 4-day festival of art, culture, literature and informative events organized by various stakeholders on the different dimensions of Somali identity coordinated by the Heinrich Boell Foundation and their implementing partner, Awjama Omar Cultural Research and Reading Centre.

Concept

The event is conceptualized as a 4-day festival, featuring independently organized, funded and run events coordinated centrally by the Awjaama Omar Cultural Center in Eastleigh with the support of Heinrich Boell Foundation.

The idea is to use public spaces in Nairobi to offer intellectual and cultural events. Together, participants will be invited to engage with the complexities of Somali identities in East Africa, and to confront many presumptions that non- Somali Kenyans might have about Somali people. The target audience is Somalis of various national identities, Kenyan youth (school groups, university groups), and the general public.

Objectives

• To create a space where Somalis of different nationalities can celebrate their cultural heritage
• To facilitate peer-to-peer interactions between Somalis of various national identities and Kenyans of other ethnic identities.
• To bring non-conflict related dimensions of Somali identity into focus.