Somali 'dhaqan' philosophies and the power of African ancestral wisdom

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Periodical article

Title:	Somali 'dhaqan' philosophies and the power of African ancestral wisdom
Author:	Ilmi, Ahmed Ali
Year:	2015
Periodical:	African Identities (ISSN 1472-5851)
Volume:	13
Issue:	2
Pages:	97-110
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Somalia
Subjects:	Somali cultural philosophy indigenous knowledge
External link:	https://doi.org/10.1080/14725843.2015.1031053
Abstract:	Somali 'dhaqan' cultural philosophies are indigenous African philosophies that encapsulate multiple bodies of living comprehensive knowledge. These philosophies are the founding pillars of Somali societies inasmuch as they are overarching principles governing Somali peoples. In their cosmological sense, 'dhaqan' philosophies are the common threads that connect Somali peoples to their ancestral homelands in Somalia and to a communal way of life. This article looks at Somali 'dhaqan' philosophies as a liberating tool from oppression grounded in the teachings of their ancestors. In it, the author stresses the importance of re-conceptualizing and operationalizing different sacred bodies of knowledge as a way of reconnecting with the Somali way of life. The author concludes this paper by offering Somali 'dhaqan' philosophies that evoke the ancestral wisdom within the diaspora as a means of negotiating the further. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]